6 ms·

Whilst all this work from home is nice and lovely and whatever, for me I still struggle to overlook this cynical fact: I had a space dedicated to work in that

Whilst all this work from home is nice and lovely and whatever, for me I still struggle to overlook this cynical fact: I had a space dedicated to work in that my employer paid for. Now I must make a part of my house that space and foot the bill.

pram 6y ago
On the other hand my home workspace is an actual office, and not some nightmarish open space where my desk was 7th in a row of 8. So the space dedicated to work in that my employer paid for actually sucks and they can have it back.
- voisin 6y ago
  This! It seems to me the primary “productivity gains” are only due to the hell of open office designs and that these gains would not exist if offices were laid out in a more humane way with cubicles or offices for people to work in. So everyone got excited to lose all the benefits of working in an office (in-person communication versus Zoom!) only because of fictional productivity gains. What we really need is the pendulum to swing back to offices closer to 2000 versus this travesty we found in the late 201x’s.
- yitchelle 6y ago
  Congrats on your setup. I am struggling to get a similar workspace myself, but I constraint by money, space and family situations.
- forlorn 6y ago
  This. I've been working remotely for almost a year now and I'm not looking forward to being back in the office. I don't spent 3 hours a day on the road, I don't have to see and hear my coworkers and don't want to sit at my desk. My employer may rent another place 5 times smaller, whatever. I'm here at home enjoying my loneliness and I've never felt better about my job.
- alibarber 6y ago
  This is good - but I unfortunately don't have the space, time or money to dedicate to building an office at home - any more than I have to build a gym or pool.
jedberg 6y ago
This is a good example of somewhere the two parties can work together. Give a tax break to companies that reimburse you for part of your mortgage/rent/utilities for your home office, and give a tax break to the employee so they don't have to count it as income. You can kind of do this already, but making it explicit would help everyone, and since it's both pro-business and pro-employee, it appeals to both sides of the aisle.
mvc 6y ago
Why wouldn't they pay (at least up to) the same amount of money to you so that you can create your own space?
- voisin 6y ago
  The amount of rent paid per employee has been driven down over the decades as the square foot space dedicated per employee has driven down. Give employees those savings and it would amount to converting an already used space (a closet) in your home to some pale representation of what you had in the office. Certainly would not justify adding on to the employee’s house, and not everyone has spare space they bought or rent that they magically don’t need for personal use anymore.
  - bollorior 6y ago
    Rent per square foot in the city center where my company's office is located is at least ten times rent per square foot on a house like mine in the suburb I live in. The rent per square foot for a desk in a serviced office near where I live is about halfway between the two. In fact the rent on a small three bedroom house in my neighbourhood and the rent per employee for office space where I work are comparable.
    - voisin 6y ago
      I think you would be surprised to what the ratio of office square foot to employee headcount looks like. Most modern offices are designed to 150-250 sf per employee including circulating space, common meeting rooms, kitchens, and washrooms. Also, if what you say is correct, that office space is 10x suburban housing rent, that is most certainly an anomaly unique to your city. That would mean a high end market, like NY or SF with $100-$150 per square foot rents would have housing stock renting for $10-15 per square foot (these are annual numbers). That is not the case in any market I have ever encountered.
      - bollorior 6y ago
        My city is unusual, fair. But 5x ratio would be far from unusual. One could easily find an apartment in Staten Island (not even a suburb, not very far from the city center) for less than 1/5 Manhattan office rent per sq ft. I'm not sure of your point about sq ft per employee. 10 times 150 sq ft seems like quite a nice three bed. 5 times the office space per employee is going to be huge, especially given that most people already have kitchens and bathrooms.
anothernewdude 6y ago
Don't forget to claim tax on the portion of your house that is being used for work.
chrisseaton 6y ago
I don’t understand - don’t people already have home offices for at least doing their bills and things?
- darkport 6y ago
  What year is it?
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    It's 2021. Maybe if you had a calendar in your office you'd know? Do people not ever need to sit down to manage any of their finances, personal life, or organisations they volunteer in in 2021? Do you do everything from your phone on your sofa? Where do you keep physical books and things? Do you never need to focus and write?
    - alibarber 6y ago
      I do it in my kitchen or living room - for a couple of hours a week at most. If I had a room that I could devote to something that I barely spend any time doing I would have made it into something more fun - like a workshop, or home-gym, or sauna, or whatever. I'll use it how I please - and my employer can keep on paying for somewhere for me to work.
- OJFord 6y ago
  It's probably a better indicator for class divide these days than the classic 'bookshelf'. But.. bills? As in receiving letters to find out how much I'm supposed to pay and then somehow manually paying them? No, I'm young enough that I've never had to operate like that, but I can barely remember my parents doing so either, certainly not in the last 20 years. Your profile indicates also UK - don't you just pay by DD? (edit: hang on a second.. my sarcasm detector might be starting to experience a slight tingle.. were you joking?)
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    > But.. bills? As in receiving letters to find out how much I'm supposed to pay and then somehow manually paying them? No obviously not literally 'paying a bill'. I mean managing your personal life. Investments, preparing data for your accountant, budgeting, that kind of thing. Do you not have any hobbies that involve managing things or focused reading and writing? Any volunteering that involves managing an organisation and people? The need to take non-work calls to organise things? What room do you do these things in? Do you not have a desk and chair somewhere?
chaostheory 6y ago
I’m willing to foot that bill in exchange for getting rid of my two hour round trip commute. It probably evens out with the savings on fuel or ticket costs. It doesn’t even factor in the stress of commuting and being on time into the office. The luxury of able to wake up and just walk into your “office” in your pajamas is priceless to me.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
cheph 6y ago
> I had a space dedicated to work in that my employer paid for. Now I must make a part of my house that space and foot the bill. And equipment. I have so far forked out $1000s and there is deductions or rebates where I live for any of it. I have to pay full VAT (25%) unless I can somehow get through the bureaucracy of fortune 500 company to get them to pay for it, in which case I have to find space in my 40 m² apartment for both my stuff and things from employer. It is seriously messed up and the fault mainly lies with how governments are implementing lockdowns.

pram 6y ago

On the other hand my home workspace is an actual office, and not some nightmarish open space where my desk was 7th in a row of 8. So the space dedicated to work in that my employer paid for actually sucks and they can have it back.

voisin 6y ago
This! It seems to me the primary “productivity gains” are only due to the hell of open office designs and that these gains would not exist if offices were laid out in a more humane way with cubicles or offices for people to work in. So everyone got excited to lose all the benefits of working in an office (in-person communication versus Zoom!) only because of fictional productivity gains. What we really need is the pendulum to swing back to offices closer to 2000 versus this travesty we found in the late 201x’s.
yitchelle 6y ago
Congrats on your setup. I am struggling to get a similar workspace myself, but I constraint by money, space and family situations.
forlorn 6y ago
This. I've been working remotely for almost a year now and I'm not looking forward to being back in the office. I don't spent 3 hours a day on the road, I don't have to see and hear my coworkers and don't want to sit at my desk. My employer may rent another place 5 times smaller, whatever. I'm here at home enjoying my loneliness and I've never felt better about my job.
alibarber 6y ago
This is good - but I unfortunately don't have the space, time or money to dedicate to building an office at home - any more than I have to build a gym or pool.

jedberg 6y ago

This is a good example of somewhere the two parties can work together. Give a tax break to companies that reimburse you for part of your mortgage/rent/utilities for your home office, and give a tax break to the employee so they don't have to count it as income. You can kind of do this already, but making it explicit would help everyone, and since it's both pro-business and pro-employee, it appeals to both sides of the aisle.

mvc 6y ago

Why wouldn't they pay (at least up to) the same amount of money to you so that you can create your own space?

voisin 6y ago
The amount of rent paid per employee has been driven down over the decades as the square foot space dedicated per employee has driven down. Give employees those savings and it would amount to converting an already used space (a closet) in your home to some pale representation of what you had in the office. Certainly would not justify adding on to the employee’s house, and not everyone has spare space they bought or rent that they magically don’t need for personal use anymore.
- bollorior 6y ago
  Rent per square foot in the city center where my company's office is located is at least ten times rent per square foot on a house like mine in the suburb I live in. The rent per square foot for a desk in a serviced office near where I live is about halfway between the two. In fact the rent on a small three bedroom house in my neighbourhood and the rent per employee for office space where I work are comparable.
  - voisin 6y ago
    I think you would be surprised to what the ratio of office square foot to employee headcount looks like. Most modern offices are designed to 150-250 sf per employee including circulating space, common meeting rooms, kitchens, and washrooms. Also, if what you say is correct, that office space is 10x suburban housing rent, that is most certainly an anomaly unique to your city. That would mean a high end market, like NY or SF with $100-$150 per square foot rents would have housing stock renting for $10-15 per square foot (these are annual numbers). That is not the case in any market I have ever encountered.
    - bollorior 6y ago
      My city is unusual, fair. But 5x ratio would be far from unusual. One could easily find an apartment in Staten Island (not even a suburb, not very far from the city center) for less than 1/5 Manhattan office rent per sq ft. I'm not sure of your point about sq ft per employee. 10 times 150 sq ft seems like quite a nice three bed. 5 times the office space per employee is going to be huge, especially given that most people already have kitchens and bathrooms.

anothernewdude 6y ago

Don't forget to claim tax on the portion of your house that is being used for work.

chrisseaton 6y ago

I don’t understand - don’t people already have home offices for at least doing their bills and things?

darkport 6y ago
What year is it?
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  It's 2021. Maybe if you had a calendar in your office you'd know? Do people not ever need to sit down to manage any of their finances, personal life, or organisations they volunteer in in 2021? Do you do everything from your phone on your sofa? Where do you keep physical books and things? Do you never need to focus and write?
  - alibarber 6y ago
    I do it in my kitchen or living room - for a couple of hours a week at most. If I had a room that I could devote to something that I barely spend any time doing I would have made it into something more fun - like a workshop, or home-gym, or sauna, or whatever. I'll use it how I please - and my employer can keep on paying for somewhere for me to work.
OJFord 6y ago
It's probably a better indicator for class divide these days than the classic 'bookshelf'. But.. bills? As in receiving letters to find out how much I'm supposed to pay and then somehow manually paying them? No, I'm young enough that I've never had to operate like that, but I can barely remember my parents doing so either, certainly not in the last 20 years. Your profile indicates also UK - don't you just pay by DD? (edit: hang on a second.. my sarcasm detector might be starting to experience a slight tingle.. were you joking?)
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > But.. bills? As in receiving letters to find out how much I'm supposed to pay and then somehow manually paying them? No obviously not literally 'paying a bill'. I mean managing your personal life. Investments, preparing data for your accountant, budgeting, that kind of thing. Do you not have any hobbies that involve managing things or focused reading and writing? Any volunteering that involves managing an organisation and people? The need to take non-work calls to organise things? What room do you do these things in? Do you not have a desk and chair somewhere?

chaostheory 6y ago

I’m willing to foot that bill in exchange for getting rid of my two hour round trip commute. It probably evens out with the savings on fuel or ticket costs. It doesn’t even factor in the stress of commuting and being on time into the office. The luxury of able to wake up and just walk into your “office” in your pajamas is priceless to me.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

cheph 6y ago

> I had a space dedicated to work in that my employer paid for. Now I must make a part of my house that space and foot the bill. And equipment. I have so far forked out $1000s and there is deductions or rebates where I live for any of it. I have to pay full VAT (25%) unless I can somehow get through the bureaucracy of fortune 500 company to get them to pay for it, in which case I have to find space in my 40 m² apartment for both my stuff and things from employer. It is seriously messed up and the fault mainly lies with how governments are implementing lockdowns.