4 ms·
Fully remote work has always benefited the employer more than the employee, at least financially. Before the pandemic closed my employer's local office space (
by bmj 3y ago
Fully remote work has always benefited the employer more than the employee, at least financially. Before the pandemic closed my employer's local office space (we were all told just to work from home), part of the employer's budget for each employee included infrastructure costs (office space, furniture, internet access, maybe food, beverages, etc). My salary did not change when I became fully remote, so the company realized significant savings by telling one hundred to just work from home.
Now, if a company has always been fully remote, then, yes, this sort of thing is ultimately going to hurt the employee because the company needs to recuperate those unplanned costs.
Personally, as a fully remote employee, I don't how to feel about this. Sure, I'd love my employer to offset some of my utility costs, but I also don't want them to assume that means they can control their use (which is their right in the context of an office space).
- judge2020 3y agoUnless it was already a short-term lease agreement, which is not super common in CRE, chances are your company was still footing the bill for their lease on that office space. Most office space is leased on 5-10 year terms.
- bmj 3y agoYou are correct, but it was sublet to a new tenant. And my employer is not on the hook for paying for their food and coffee, and internet access.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y agoPretty sure the internet bill is still going up be paid.
- red-iron-pine 3y agodifferent contracts. ISPs may or may not be tied to the building. Our bandwidth in our offices was generally on 2-year contracts. We were locked into the building for 10-years, but if we wanted to turn off the power and water and phones we could have.
- mensetmanusman 3y agoMaybe for some, but it has certainly benefited me more than my employer because I value my time.
- bmj 3y agoI guess I should have qualified that with "financially." I also value my time, so I am not inclined to push for such a law in my state.
- zacharytelschow 3y agoNot just time, but cost also. As my wife also works from home we've been able to scale back to a single car for 2 years now. Since owning, insuring, fueling, repairing, and maintaining a car typically runs $6k-$10k/year (depending on your tastes and mileage) I've gotten a substantial financial benefit from being remote.
- akira2501 3y ago> Personally, as a fully remote employee, I don't how to feel about this. Really? Just ask for a raise.
- WalterBright 3y agoDon't forget the remote employee benefits from not having commute expense and time costs, and work clothing costs.
- dragonwriter 3y ago> Fully remote work has always benefited the employer more than the employee All work in a roughly capitalist system does, except by temporary accident, that's sort of a defining feature.
- lobocinza 3y ago> I'd love my employer to offset some of my utility costs. Yes but I would rather be paid more than waste my time and divulge a lot about my life to my employer. While these might be beneficial in the short term to those already employed this might hurt remote work employers and employees.