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!

@ky7sa I agree. It's like that where I am too.

Perhaps you don't live in an area where it would be safe for him to play in your street with friends though. That doesn't mean it is the same everywhere. Plus (rightly or wrongly) maybe you are not expecting you child to be very sensible compared with other eight year olds. Regardless, you can't extrapolate you situation to everyone else's. It's also a bit sad that you don't think it appropriate for an 8 year old to play with their friends without adult input.

@ChocChipHandbag Just seen that you don't think it possible to WFH with children until they are at least 13! So you don't think even 12 year olds can amuse themselves without adult input?😂

transport - I wfh and travel to the office once per week which costs me £45 return each time. I can’t afford to buy close to my workplace, my travel costs have actually increased since buying and wfh vs renting and wfo
parking - n/a
childcare including wraparound and school holidays - my childcare isn’t any different, I can’t have a toddler running around the house while I’m working. I work shorter days when commuting and doing nursery run, and longer days when wfh.
food - yes food costs are more when in office
cleaning - l can get a little cleaning done when wfh but not much
gym memberships - I still work a normal day, I can’t just bugger off in the middle of it to go to the gym
contributions to leaving presents - these are all electronic now, no difference
sickness - if people wfh are working through sickness surely that’s an argument for them getting paid more rather than less?

I guarantee my gas and electric bill is significantly higher than yours. I’ve also paid for my wfh set up - desk, monitors etc

It has to vary from industry to industry. There is no flexibility or the option to wfh in my job. i wprked all through covid in healthcare, in a public facing role. I've finally gone freelance as a result so I can at least control commuting distance. My dh was able to compress his hours but his company (a large banking group) are cutting down on this and it's not an option that will be offered to new starts nor would it be available for him of he got a promotion or a sideways move. As a result he's keeping an eye out for vacancies with other companies that do offer it as a perk. His being able to compress his hours means I can work 2 days a week ad opposed to just a Saturday. It helps our finances but even more importantly keeps me working and I enjoy my job. It means we don't need childcare for our 1 year old, nurseries around here are reluctant to take a child for a day a week as they have said they struggle to settle. It also saves us money. He has a better work life balance and evidence shows he is actually more productive. He goes into the office 2 days a week and wfh 2 days. He used to wfh 2 days a week prior to covid anyway.

I moved to my current employer in January, from a 3 day at home, 2 in office role to 4 days in, 1 at home.

My work/life balance is crap again now, i cant shove washing on in my 10min lunch break for example, ive got to fit it all in gone 10pm at night when i get home again.

There is no reason i need to be in the office, in my role it would be VERY obvious if i wasnt working when at home. I only took this job because it's good for my CV. My next move will be next year and only remote or at least 3 days wfh. I work to live, not live to work.