To think that employers will have to pay more for working in the office roles?

[MrsMarieMopps]

Following on from the poster who is annoyed she will have to come back into the office two days a week, I honestly think this argument will come up again and again.
I have never been able to work from home, apart from the odd day when I had COVID. Worked through the pandemic in an office. I am an NHS employee and need to be in the hospital even if not necessarily clinical.
My trust is now fully back to pre covid 'everyone must come in every day'. I don't disagree with this. We should be in supporting the clinical staff and patients!
This means spending on

• transport (£12 a day for me)
• parking
• childcare including wraparound and school holidays
• food which can be transported. Milk for work, butter for work etc. I was home I could just make something out of what I had at the back of the cupboards
• some have cleaners as they are out the house more.
• some gym memberships are cheaper if you can go off peak. Which I can't.
• contributions to leaving presents, maternity leave, big birthdays. These contributions are presumably are less pressured if not in person.
• sickness. There's many days when you can't pull yourself in to the office, or when you're contagious, but you probably could log in from home. I have defo noticed my friends are rarely 'calling in sick' anymore for their children or themselves but WFH instead.

So whilst I appreciate that not all jobs require an office presence, if I was a job seeker why would I choose one that's not hybrid or working from home, especially nowadays. I feel there is going to have to be some sort of reimbursement for taking on a job which requires you to make all the sacrifices in order to do it. Also can't help noticing that it is generally the lower paid who are having to keep paying all these necessary costs. We don't have people falling over themselves to do jobs in care, retail, hospitality as it is and I think this would really help with adding an incentive. Otherwise why would anyone become an NHS band 2 admin or a cook in a nursing home? Also I'm aware heating costs may be more but that's just one thing and most just put another jumper, my workplace is freezing anyway!

how could a cook in a nursing home WTF?

You know people in nursing homes still need to eat, right? 😁

@Ifailed well that's sort of my point, why would someone do that job rather than one based in their home like dealing with calls for an insurance company?

WFH= more space required though... it benefits those with bigger homes rather than the person trying to work at the kitchen table or their bedroom in a house share.b

I actually think employers should pay more if they expect you to work at home due to the increased cost of lighting, heating, potential broadband upgrades etc.

I'd never want to work from home again.

In industries where its difficult to recruit at the moment I would imagine hybrid working will have to be offered as part of the incentive package or, if fully office based, yes increased pay.

It will depend on industry to industry. And if recruitment became easier then employers could require office based only work easier.

@PuttingDownRoots I would give up my dining room table which is in my kitchen for an extra £300 a month

@Comefromaway that does not add to the hundreds in spent on commuting and childcare for most though

Me and my husband live in a 3 bedroom house. I still choose to work on my laptop from the sofa, rather than the “office” I made in the spare room. A big house isn’t necessary.

You still have childcare costs when you work from home, granted wrap around care may not be needed but I work from home and toddler is in nursery.

@Angryappendix hardly any of the parents in my daughters class are planing to use holiday clubs whilst my childcare bill for the summer is close to £1000

I think childcare costs change for primary children, who you can reasonably take your lunch break late to pick up, andleave to play in another room rather than afterschool club and same for dropping off.

I dont know, i guess not everyone takes jobs with a commute or has children

This is why the civil service has always been that bit more flexible, because the pay (in many areas) can't compete with private but the flexibility often makes up for it. If the CS tried to get very rigid across the board, it would have a retention problem.

I don't see why childcare costs should be any different unless the childcare is closer to home so you save some time each day, in which case you could choose childcare closer to work.

Lots of people are not in the position to give up their dining table if other members of the household need the room. My daughter lives in a house-share. She has her bedroom but other rooms are shared with her housemates.

Commuting costs depend I guess on the commute distance. My commuting costs are probably about £30-40 per week.

Why are you only including childcare for people who work in the office, no one should be working from home and caring for their child at the same time, that was tolerated during lockdown when nurseries and schools were closed but you can't work and look after your child at the same time.

I work from home, I certainly don't have time to clean my house during the day, or go to the gym, I'm working, I rarely have time for lunch let alone running the hoover round.

You get help from the govt for this. Not much but you can claim it via your give gateway. My boss tops this up to £100 a month WFH allowance to help cover.

Most of the issues you’ve mentioned is nothing to do with your employer and your own personal responsibility to ensure you can work for the role you’re employed to do.

And this is precisely why many employers are insisting workers return to the office because people are not organising proper childcare.

When i worked on an office i had to be there at 9, which meant i had to use morning club at £4 a day.

Working from home I can drop child at school and be back home by 9 so no morning club. Its those kinds of little savings add up..

Then they're taking the piss.

DD is in holiday clubs for 4 weeks and I have first and last week off. At £43 a day, this summer is costing £860 and nearly half my annual leave.

If you look at the other thread there's lots of parents up in arms because they won't be able to pick up their kids from school. I'm sympathetic as a lone parent but I think those of us without that luxury should be reimbursed.

I have worked from home for many years and I don't think it is particularly cheaper. You save on the commute but spend more on energy particularly in the winter. I also probably spend on things such as office stationary because I can't just go into a cupboard and get it.

It might save some people on childcare but believe it or many workers don't have children that need childcare. Of those that do most are hopefully not “working at home” while looking after children at the same time so they will still be paying for childcare.

Some of your “savings” are ridiculous. I don't see how working from home means you can get an off-peak gym membership. If you're working during off peak hours it doesn't matter if you're at home or in a workplace, you should be working not at the gym. I also don't see how working in an office means you need a cleaner more either.

Had Covid never happened and WFH not become the norm in many fields then this demand for going to work would never have occurred to people! Surely now we have, hopefully, got beyond Covid then life should return to normal rather than some trying to use it to get extra payment.

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime I think it depends on the job. Some can be made up in their own time, some kids are more easily entertained. Some have two parents at home who can tagteam!

This is why there is a recruitment crisis in many sectors (childcare; elderly care; teaching etc).

So we will have lots of people in call centres to sell us insurance or update us on our Ocado order but noone to look after our kids or elderly relatives while we work.

Only advice I have is to not blame each other - but blame a government that repeatedly shows it holds no value for these sorts of roles in society.