Forced to work from home

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

It's very well understood.

What many don't understand is the mathematical consequences of shrinking available desks by 60% and mandating 2 days per week in the office for everyone.

If a company does that, then no amount of talking to your manager, HR or even the cleaner will get you a permanent desk.

My company had 60 desks per 90 employees. They were rarely ever full. Between days off, sick days, and people in meetings there was always a free desk. A few people got a permanent desk as they needed specialist chairs/ equipment for health reasons.

CosmicFool wrote: »

Would you not save money in travel expenses?

Why do people keep saying this

I can walk to work or I can hire a limo every day, my company don't need to adjust my wages to account for the way I choose to commute, and it's none of their business. On the other hand, if my company requires that I go to an event in a limo then they should pay for the limo.

In other words, it's irrelevant whether or not I save money by not having to travel. Conversely, if I have to spend money on my employer's behalf to do the work they require then they should reimburse.

CosmicFool wrote: »

Would you not save money in travel expenses?

Yes you will save the costs of going to and from the office which are not allowable as a tax deduction.
More importantly, if you spend 2 hrs each way, even in in floorpie's limo:D, whats the productivity/leisure time cost

Jim2007 wrote: »

It may not be relevant to you, but I don’t know anyone who is not interested in having a couple extra K a year to spend on something else.

It's of course relevant to me, but it's relevant to me only how I use my money in my personal life.

And most people don’t incur much by way of additional expense by working from home. Once the kids are old enough to be going out to school the house will be empty for a large part of the day. And pretty much ever house these days have printers, punch and staples.

So while you may get upset by the company not paying you for the use of your stapler most people will not see it that way.

I'm not talking about 50c worth of staples, I'm talking about, in my case, €1000s in electricity a year, and probably for the average person (1 laptop, 2 monitors running 10 hours a day) at least €400 a year. Multiply by the number of people WFH. Then add heating through winter. Even on the dole you get a fuel allowance I'm not asking to be compensated for, e.g., my work desk being in my bedroom (which imo would also be a reasonable demand, but ignore that for now), I'm talking about direct costs.

What this cost is offset by (how much you're saving on trains, how much you're saving on Starbucks, whatever) is irrelevant to my company. These "savings" can NOT be factored in to the costs that I'm incurring for the company.

Of course the next logical step is to question why you need to continue to even have an office in an expensive part of town or even in the town if there are few or no staff there. When I moved to Zürich in the late 80’s all the major Swiss banks had their HQ down town, today they are somewhere out in the sticks because very few people go there anymore so it is cheaper to locate out of town.

Agreed. Let us WFH from Switzerland or up a mountain in Kerry or wherever we want. Get rid of mandatory office days, if our permanent workspace is to be imposed on our home.

floorpie wrote: »

You get 10% tax back on this.

Source?

ineedeuro wrote: »

My options
Option 1: Travel to my office, that is either by car/train. I pay for that transport to/from work but I also waste 2-3 hours per day to commute. Then work 8 hours. Even in the case of the train I need to drive to the station. This means I need to pay fuel/insurance/tax etc for the car. But as mentioned already the 2-3 hours are the most important part for me.

Option 2: Work from home, pay some heating/electric. No stress of rush hour traffic. Work 8 hours and have 2-3 hours spare.

Now maybe I am crazy but my preference is option 2.

You forgot from option 2: Must go to the office 2 days a week. Pay for transport. Waste 2-3 hours per office day. Still need a car and fuel/insurance/tax to drive to the station. Stay living within a commute of your office. If your company is in the city and you rent, stay living in costly accommodation and work and sleep from your bedroom.

Option 3: 100% WFH, live wherever you want.

We're talking about option 2 in the thread

floorpie wrote: »

I don't just care about my costs (I'll sort my issues out), I care about yours also Nobody should have their company's office expenditure imposed on them regardless of what you're now saving on coffee and blah blah blah

It sounds like you think your role isnt suitable for WFH or Hybrid. You should tell your employer you want a permanent desk. Lots of people do this already. Again, this is not new.

I prefer hybrid, so thats what I arranged with my employer.

fvp4 wrote: »

Those monitors sound expensive, are they company issue? Do you need two on for ten hours every day?

Regular cheap 4K monitors, and that's a normal enough power draw for >26" at daytime brightness I believe. I think everybody needs two, everyone in my place is provided with two, and 10 hours is the normal time you'd have equipment on each day.

The €3.20 per day you mention is a good estimate for the average daily costs we're incurring when WFH, and I'd be happy enough if we're all getting that as standard.