To think we shouldn't assume WFH is easier / cheaper?

[BoredtoTiers]

Having read quite a few pieces in the ongoing debate about return to the office, some of the arguments being put forward have been that WFH is necessarily easier / cheaper (often accompanied by a suggestion that it's totally fine to pay less to home workers).

Now obviously, employers can make a job office based and employees can either accept that or go elsewhere. This isn't really about that.

My own experience is that home working has been more expensive and longer term will be cost neutral at best. Easier? In some ways, but not in others.

Yet I see a lot of articles and posts in threads suggesting that of course it's easier / cheaper. Often this is based on things like the cost of a London commute. AIBU to think that this argument simply doesn't hold water for many who have shifted to home working during the pandemic?

No commute, no food out, no after work socialising, and I don't have heating at home. Gone from saving a couple of hundred a month to 1000.

I had a 45 minute 26 mile drive there so saved on petrol. I always bought lunch and coffees so save on that. My fuel consumption is lower than last year but I've been home working for two years now so not sure about that.

So what you’re suggesting if you live in a town really rather than a city or at least not a very big city so actually your commute is gonna be minimal and you’re not really gonna have a lot of the expenses that come working outside the home anyway … so do you not see that that might be a little bit different set of circumstances to somebody who is hitting the road at 6 am to get into the office for 8:30, having done breakfast and the school or nursery run

Presumably all that money saved by some is going to end up upping house prices somewhere in the country eventually.

Cheaper for me too ie. Clothes, lunches and travel. Havent had to get a new winter coat or boots the last 2 years. Also I work in a city centre and not tempted by the shops. When I do go in once a week and say pop in b and m end up buying rubbish dont need.

Yup WFH is much more expensive for me.

Higher gas/electric bills and DOUBLE commuting costs (children are at school/nursery next too work so I now have to take them, drive home and back again so am actually doing doublet the travel I would if I was working in the office).

The impact WFH had had on my mental health is huge too, limited socialisation, constantly surrounded by home stresses, no separation from work/home has been massive and hugely impactful.

The idea that WFH is wonderful for everyone is simply not true.

The idea that WFH is wonderful for everyone is simply not true.

I agree. Mumsnet has a disproportionate number of extremely introverted posters who would quite happily go for days on end without any kind of social interraction with anyone, and who thins that anyone who wants to make friends with the people they work with must be lacking in some way. I have read many times on here "I don't go to work to make friends". What is wrong with that?

If you don't live and work anywhere near where you grew up, and especially if you don't have children, how on earth do you make new friends?

It is not significantly cheaper but it is easier for us. We have a severely disabled child and dh being available in mornings and early evenings has made our lives many times better - possibly kept ds out of needing residential school. He is now pushing to remain wfh permanently. Of course for some people it makes life harder- as a young person living in a house share I wouldn't have liked it.

@Bringsexyback

So what you’re suggesting if you live in a town really rather than a city or at least not a very big city so actually your commute is gonna be minimal and you’re not really gonna have a lot of the expenses that come working outside the home anyway … so do you not see that that might be a little bit different set of circumstances to somebody who is hitting the road at 6 am to get into the office for 8:30, having done breakfast and the school or nursery run

Yes? Of course it's different. I don't want to work from home for the sake of saving a bit of petrol, so I don't. I probably would a few days a week if I drove 30 miles to work.

However.

you’re not really gonna have a lot of the expenses that come working outside the home anyway

Apart from commute, what expenses?

Dh used to walk to his office and walk home for lunch. Now he walks the dog in his lunch break. No real difference in cost. It did force us to decorate the study (previously the junk room) and after 2 years dh’s back it not great so really we need to buy a chair. However we’ve saved hugely on childcare. 2dc used to go to cm, now dh is home and dc are 10 so self sufficient.

It’s cheaper for us as DH is no longer commuting (£1000 saved on train fares per month). He gets a car allowance and we went down to one car. We don’t need childcare anymore as they have aged out of it.
The savings account for the increase in heating. For the first time in our marriage my DH has been home and an active parent. There has been a great benefit to us as a family but individually we do miss the journey home to destress, meet others

DH wfh and has heating on.

He always dropped one DS at school 7 miles away on his way to work. He would then pick DS up on way home. Now he drops DS in and has to drive back home to work. This is repeated later in the day by having to make additional.journey to collect, so essentially an extra 14 miles in the day, which is an hour plus long round trip in traffic and a royal PITA. He'd prefer to be in work at yhe office with one return trip instead of two now.

On the plus side, he was paying city centre parking daily.

I'm doing a hybrid. I used to do this and would work with the heating off, under my electric blanket, but now DH insists on heating on.

Overall, our outgoings are about the same, offsetting fuel and additional journeys vs parking

Its OK for me now - I save some time commuting and some cost but I was reflecting what it would have been like at the start of my career and have come to the conclusion that it would have been awful.

At the start of my career I was fairly lowly but learnt loads from chatting to colleagues/ superiors - its was often outside of formal meetings I learnt the most. Sometimes just overhearing a conversation or chatting about what we were doing resulted in finding better ways of doing things - it is to build up the innate knowledge that underpins much of the world and leads to development if you are stuck at home only having arranged meetings.

There were also the social events where I could chat to other people over shared interests etc which enriched my life and also broke down barriers at work - it is far easier to go up and chat and work with someone in another department if you have already met them in the the pub/ another context. These interactions were beneficial for me and ultimately beneficial for the company as we were working together as an organisation far better.

Also reflecting on the start of my career I was in a flatshare in London which was fairly compact with little space for a desk in my bedroom. The main sitting / dining room was shared by 3/4 of us - it would not have been nice to work from home in those circumstances. And now when I am successfully settled I resent having to use my spare room for work purposes - there should be a clear dilineation between the two places.

I cant wait to get back to work properly!

Longer term I worry for the economy too - in the 'knowledge' 'information' economy the innovations come from being together in the same place working alongside our peers - so short term benefits for us in costs may bring long term costs for our prosperity as a nation.

I'm saving the petrol on a 50 mile commute, 5 days a week. And now need to set my alarm for the time I would have been getting into the car! I have a dedicated work space, which definitely helps. Plus I only work school hours, so I still get the "busyness" and sociability of the school run and DCs extra curricular activities.

It's definitely cheaper, and in many ways nicer, but it's no easier! Work is still work at the end of the day

@carolinerr

Longer term I worry for the economy too - in the 'knowledge' 'information' economy the innovations come from being together in the same place working alongside our peers - so short term benefits for us in costs may bring long term costs for our prosperity as a nation.

This 100%.

I work on an Innovation Team (that is actually our team title) and is so much harder to bounce ideas around on a Teams call. It is also much harder to convey the passion and enthusiasm for a new idea to the wider project when you aren't in the same room.

Multiply this by the thousands of teams around the country trying to do the same thing and we have a problem.

I found it to be about 1k a month cheaper.

The debate has been so skewed by people with long and expensive London commutes. People who willingly signed up to the salary and career opportunities that came with that have now decided actually it was unfair and intolerable all along that they had to experience the downsides.

WFH has been more expensive for me. And it’s shit. Going back to the office in 2 weeks though, thank god.

I had a very short commute to the office, and took my own coffee and lunch with me. I may have saved a little because my WFH clothes are cheaper than my office clothes, but I'd say I've spent a fair bit more on heating and lighting, broadband, desk, upgrading our printer etc.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone say it is universally easier or cheaper. Surely it just depends on your circumstance?

For me, I used to spend £250 a month on petrol and travelled 1.5 hours each way. I'm lucky enough to have a spare room to use as an office and have a quiet house to work in so I'm more productive.

My colleague had a 5 minute walk to work each day so is saving no time or money, and has to work from the dining table and pack his desk away each night. His teenagers come home at 3pm and he struggles to concentrate after that.

Unsurprisingly he can't wait to go back to the office and I'm dreading it.