If you currently work from home or are hybrid, how much extra would you want p.a. to work from the office 5 days per week ?

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If you currently work from home or are hybrid, how much extra would you want p.a. to work from the office 5 days per week ?

Just that really.

Big business will only tolerate this for so long and will instead focus their money on the eager and willing younger generation coming through, rather than paying through the nose for the talent who think they are too good to get on the tube.

That's a rather optimistic take, in our current labour market and with our population pyramid. It also assumes a lot about the younger generation. Why do you think people who are used to conducting their lives online and who have good reason not to buy into the idea that following traditional work models will pay off for them, will all fall into line?

I was going to say, who says the next generation coming through want to be in the office every day? Maybe more of them will be able to buy their own homes if they’re not so reliant on proximity to urban centres.

My employer mandated a 2 day pw return to the office after Covid. I tried it for a year and a half and found I just couldn't make it work and school holidays in particular were causing me huge amounts of stress. They dug their heels in, declined a flexible working request, so I left and now work fully remote for a rival company for more money. It's everything I hoped for, and it's hard to say what amount of money would induce me to return 5 days a week, given the adverse impact this would have on my whole family.

I am 100% office based and was throughout the pandemic. I am fine with this because I walk to work, if I was driving or using public transport I would feel differently. Having said that I hate all the bitching and whispering that goes on, it must be so nice to avoid all that drama by working from home.

I think it’s a very accurate take, especially in my experience.

Those that are in our office most are the younger colleagues because they mostly live in house shares so are more productive working in an office than a bedroom, they learn from others who are also learning and they like the social side of working

Those that are not coming in are those that have the space to work from home and are in a career position largely due to being supported by and benefitted from observing/learning from the older colleagues when they were junior, something that some are unwilling to pay back

While we are still working hybrid, and will likely stay that way, it is noted and commented on, when it comes to performance conversations, who comes in and who does not

Given that you work hybrid and in a place where it's noted who comes in and who isn't, by definition your workplace only seeing that cohort of younger people who can work in an office, who live close enough to access your workplace and who also find it valuable. It's a self selecting group. You're not seeing the younger people who don't tick all those boxes.

That's important because the post I replied to is speculation that in the future, bigger businesses will replace people already in the workplace who want to work remotely with younger people coming through who don't. That is, that there are going to be enough of them who are willing and have the skills to do it. Nothing you've said suggests that even the younger people in your own, self selecting group workplace won't change their own behaviours.

I’m FT WFH and I would need at least 30k more to go back into the office. Even if the office was next door I don’t want to sit in an office every day for 8 hrs.

This depends hugely on your personal circumstances. If you are in your early career then you prob wouldn’t be able to ask for a whole lot more money to not be in an office.
If you are further into your career and have kids you’d prob want to be mostly at home. What are your own personal circumstances and what’s driving the question?
I would never take a 5 day a week in the office job. I’d take 3 days if it was local like 10-20mins drive away but if I had to do my usual commute to my office in London which is a 3 hour round trip then max 1 day a week but right now I can do 1 day a month so I’m not changing that as much as I can.
Obviously if they paid me £50k more then I’d consider more days in London so I could hire a nanny to look after the kids in the evening but I’d rather earn less if it means I can spend more time with the kids. We don’t need the extra money anyway as very comfortable financially as we are and having the additional strain is not worth the extra cash.
Also, I reckon young people prefer hybrid too and its not just for ppl established in their career. I’ve got the benefit of my husband earning a fair wedge of money hence no desire to strain myself for more cash.

£15minimum. First £8k pre tax of that would go on paying for travel.

Nothing, because I was fully office based pre pandemic when we changed to hybrid working and I remain on the same contract. I actually hate hybrid working as a model and would advocate for full time office based for most people if I had a choice!

I went to office 5 days a week before covid and it was always going to be temporary. Now I have to go in 2 x month. If I had to go back in full time, I wouldn't be happy about it but wfh was going to be temporary so I don't think there is a number. I work for public sector healthcare so there is no negotiation.

I do two days in the office currently. Would do five for a 10% pay rise. (6k pa)

Ok, so I would want;

My travel costs covering
My commute paid at my hourly rate
My getting office ready time paid at hourly rate
Additional payments for office appropriate clothing that I otherwise wouldn’t have to buy
Doggy day care paid for daily
Cleaner paid for twice a week (as I would no longer be able to use my commute time to clean)
Gardener paid for once a month
Subscription to food delivery service to make my evenings easier

Plus an additional fee to cover the ‘cost’ to my work life balance / stress of making small talk in the office / etc, which would need to be significant.

I think in total I would probably want an extra £50k, at least.

Since I started hybrid working (2 days per week in office) I am no longer permanently shattered due to the commute and I can’t put a price on that

No because I’m saving my employer money by them no longer running an office block. I can’t even imagine how much it’s worth.

I have been working from home since 2015, so long before covid.
I wouldn't want to work anywhere else now because there is no need for me to go anywhere for the job I do.
So it would have to be quite a significant pay increase for me to even consider it.

I would want extra the equivalent hourly rate for any commute time plus a bit extra on top to cover costs of commute and childcare
so for instance I do 2 days in the office now but it's a 3 hour commute round trip so it's not ideal
if I were 5 days 1hr round trip I'd need the equivalent to 2 hours extra pay a week so at least an extra 8 k a year for me really
conversly if my company agreed to reduce my days in the office I'd take a pay cut to do so if it were an option (but don't see why I should given my work)

Like many others...there is no reasonable amount that would make me go back to office work. I'm autistic, and I've worked from home for the last 12 years or so...I can absolutely guarantee that, were I paid double to work in the office 5 days a week, I wouldn't be worth that much.

I mean...sure, I'd do it for a year if I was being paid £1M+, but that's not remotely likely.

With that said...I'm fortunate in that there aren't many people who can do what I do, and almost everybody else in my industry also prioritises the work-life benefits of working from home (despite what idiots like Elon Musk think about the whole thing), so employers don't really have a lot of choice about the matter; if they went down the road of trying to force people to work in the office, they'd simply find themselves constantly light on resources.

I’ve worked from home the past 4 years (maybe in the office twice a month), started a new job last week which requires me to be in London 5 days a week. Forgotten how horrendous that is and will quit as soon as I find a new job elsewhere

At the very least the cost of the season ticket plus tax.

I am not sure what mine would cost, but about £4000. So £4000 plus the tax I'd pay as a 40% taxpayer.

Others might want the extra childcare costs they'd incur.

But I am not sure I'd take a job that required me to be in the office 5 days a week these days. Unless it was 10 minutes walk away.

Its not about the money.

If jobs return to wanting people in an office 5 days a week, I'll go part time, 3 days a week max.

I don't want my young children in after school club 5 days a week and barely seeing them monday to friday.

If, by going back to working FT in an office, I could earn enough in a couple of years to retire (£1.5-2m net should do it), then fine.

In the real world, that’s not going to happen so there is no realistic quantity of money which would adequately compensate me for the damage to both my work / life balance and my mental health.

Depends on the commute. 30-45 mins commute and double my salary, I would consider it. I don’t think I would consider it for a longer commute!