Work From Home

[GB72]

Out of interest, has anyone changed their thoughts on this with the impending rises in heating and electric costs. Not so much of an issue if someone is at home anyway but I am guessing that having to heat the house for more of the day, use more electricity etc may have an impact on whether it is such a good option now. Does the saving on transport and the work/life balance improvements outweigh the additional costs.

Anybody actually work for companies that are offering contributions towards the increased costs of working from home over the Winter.

 

[Robster59]

Both my partner and I work from home, but we don't get any contribution to the cost of the energy.
In our company, our office staff have the option to work from the office. If they choose not to, then that's up to them, so why should the company subsidise that.
I was in one of our offices last week and before Covid it would be buzzing with the technical support staff, and probably 30+ people working in the office on the phones. Now there are less than 10 people in the office.
We're moving to a house which will be more energy efficient, and in this house we have two gas boilers (one for the granny flat at the back), so we're hoping our costs will reduce.

 

[srixon 1]

For me the cost of travel to work would work out more expensive than staying at home working. I have a small bedroom as an office so I am already thinking that whilst I’m home alone I can just heat this room with a separate heater rather than heating the whole house.

 

[RRidges]

My understanding is that, for most houses, keeping only 1 part of the house at an appropriate temperature - for working during the day, say - followed by the expense of getting the rest of a house up to similar temperature when everyone is at home is actually inefficient and costs more than keeping the entire house at a temperature reasonably close to normal.
Better, for those with thermostats, to simply turn the temperature down a degree or two and wear another layer of clothing.
Temperature differences between rooms promote draughts, which exacerbate the issue.

 

[Deleted member 18121]

I'll be working from home 4 days a week, but my train fair to work is £70 a day, so any energy savings are negated.

I had my tax code changed to signify working from home, I think it only saves £10 a month but it's better than a poke in the eye.

But I wouldn't expect my (or any employer) to pay / subsidise anything extra for a choice of working from home.

 

[Rooter]

My understanding is that, for most houses, keeping only 1 part of the house at an appropriate temperature - for working during the day, say - followed by the expense of getting the rest of a house up to similar temperature when everyone is at home is actually inefficient and costs more than keeping the entire house at a temperature reasonably close to normal.
Better, for those with thermostats, to simply turn the temperature down a degree or two and wear another layer of clothing.
Temperature differences between rooms promote draughts, which exacerbate the issue.

I think there are many variables.. What type of electric heater, convection, fan, halogen, oil filled.. Halogen is the most likely most efficient. Then the size ot it.

Then you need to balance the cost of that to your house, there will never be a one size fits all answer. example i have a box office in a converted from attached garage, probably 5M2 maximum, well insulated. A halgoen heater for 10 minutes every hour or as required will be considerably less than heating 5 bedrooms and receptions etc, as long as my insulation on the rest of the house is decent, the losses while the family are at school should not be be too great, so maybe needs to pick up 3- degrees which it should do pretty quickly and efficiently...

I dunno, need to do the sums, but one thing for sure is there is no one size fits all answer.


And my company dont pay me a penny, but never have, i worked from home before it was cool!!

 

[jim8flog]

When I used to work from home I had an allowance from the company for doing so the, company also paid for an additional phone line to go in to the house so I could seperate work and domestic phone use. In addition these days you can claim some of the cost as expenses for income tax purposes.

 

[fundy]

Heard of some firms going the other way, trying to withdraw any London waiting for those choosing to work from home rather than the office!

 

[Rooter]

But I wouldn't expect my (or any employer) to pay / subsidise anything extra for a choice of working from home.

I think it depends on the company and their situation. My co for example are closing our london office and getting a contract with a shared office space for when we need it, so all 15 UK employees work from home. Dread to think how much money we spend on rent for our office off liverpool street!!

 

[IanM]

If heating and lighting gets more expensive than Inter City Rail travel, we are all screwed!

 

[Robster59]

When I used to work from home I had an allowance from the company for doing so the, company also paid for an additional phone line to go in to the house so I could seperate work and domestic phone use. In addition these days you can claim some of the cost as expenses for income tax purposes.

Our company used to pay for broadband, but once everyone started to have the internet, they took that away. All my work calls are done by the company mobile.

 

[Deleted member 29109]

If heating gets expensive enough for me to consider going back to a 3 hour 120 mile a day round trip to the office, we are all doomed.

 

[Jamesbrown]

If my missus hadn’t had enough of the work from home lark herself and changed jobs she would be doing now! I’ve not put her bills up for four years so for her it would of been pay the majority of the energy bill or a swift boot!

 

[HeftyHacker]

Nope, either me or the missus would be home anyway and, if we weren't, the fuel/rail fare costs for the two of us would be around 40 quid so I doubt our energy bill would be that high.

 

[GG26]

Heard of some firms going the other way, trying to withdraw any London waiting for those choosing to work from home rather than the office!

With most people working at home for a least part of the week there have been suggestions that it’s unfair that employees of the London office work a 35 hour week, whereas the rest of us do 37.5 hours. It’s just been announced that from 1st September we are all going to 35 hours.

That is of course a double edged sword. As one of my colleagues has said, those of us who go above and beyond will continue to do so, whilst those who do as little as possible will now do even less.

 

[Bazz]

80 minute commute to work vs roll out of bed and go into the other bedroom. I'll pay the extra energy cost I think.

 

[need_my_wedge]

I work from home pretty much permanently now. No subsidies from work, but I save 3-4 hours a day travelling, 120 miles a day on the car wear and tear, and £15-£20 a day in diesel. I’m more than happy to carry on as is at the moment.

 

[Mudball]

The above posts shows that we need more grafters in the country.... get back into the office.

Last week we had more than our usual occupancy in the office.. all because people wanted some air-conditioning (plus free lunch & coffee). Currently no plans to be subsidise employees to wfh. Some have changed contracts to be permanently wfh. However, there is serious consideration to provide a one-off inflation linked payment. I am pretty sure some bean counter in HQ will say no.

 

[GB72]

Some of you lot have some vicious trips to work and back. Mine is a leasurely 30 minute drive door to door and I actually like it as it gets my brain in and out of work mode. That said, working from home was never really an option for me as I would need to boost my security for storing confidential client data and documents as well as have fireproof cabinets for storing any historic deeds or other original documents that I am working on. That would need a reasonable sized, dedicated home office, far bigger than the one that my wife uses.

Can understand fully why many on here would work from home even with the cost increase.

 

[Mudball]

i went to my London office yesterday..
Return Daily Train Ticket > £24 (Did not take tube, as I walk else >30)
Coffee on the way to office > £2.90
Lunch (wrap + crisps + drink around fleet street) > £8.20
Plenty of free teas in the office..
Finished late, so Pint after work with colleagues > £11
Late train home, with the aroma of drinkers and McD in the coach >> priceless

So an average day is between £35-50 spend + 2 hours round trip (considering the walk rather than tube) .. Even if I go to office, the house will need some element of heating + lighting when family is back from school/work. So net-net, I am looking at an extra 5-6 hours of heating/lighting every day. I am assuming that is going to be less than £35. WFH makes more economic sense + i don't have to see any commuters