Matt Round: I think the key thing that the pandemic made office workers realise/accept about commuting is that it's unpaid work

I think the key thing that the pandemic made office workers realise/accept about commuting is that it's unpaid work

(I'm not some work-from-home fanatic, hybrid arrangements are often best, but perceptions of pay & conditions have changed forever and employers have to deal with that)

Unpaid work plus a personal expense in most cases.

Yep, unpaid work that you pay for!

Any time I see a traffic jam, it makes me appreciate the fact I don’t have a daily commute. I can take being broke much more than I can take two hours of traffic a day.

I can't believe 15 years ago I was commuting 4.5 hours every day and wasting more time on stuff like ironing shirts and polishing shoes. All that travelling and all those chores just to work on an industrial estate in Slough I've done the same job from home since 2009. It's been bliss

Yup. Pure madness.

Just did the numbers and nearly half of my office job's take-home pay goes to my car. And I don't even have a car note.

Yeah the biggest realization I've had from remote work is how much money *and* time I save by not going into the office. Not *just* the commute and gas+parking; wear and tear on the car, snacks and lunches, fewer antacids/tums, fewer allergy/cold meds, etc. Tons of little costs and time sinks.

plus the emotional and psychological work of making small talk, avoiding gossipy coworkers, changing up your wardrobe, packing lunches

People who'd never worked from home before have told me they were shocked to realise how much energy all the mundane stuff took and how they were constantly adrenalised/caffeinated to get through the day

As someone who was one of the few in-office people doing a job most of my peers did from home... I always knew that :(

I used public transport a lot in my work, so there was a clear line between my normal home to office journey (which I could not claim for) and home to work outside the office (which I could claim both time and money for).

After being told for so long that working from home wasn't feasible, when there was no longer a choice 1) I saved a life-changing amount of money 2) got more rest and more time with family 3) physical and mental health skyrocketed. Horrible to say, but Covid dramatically improved my life.

After 2 1/2 years of working hard at home, any time I have to come in, my office day is shortened by my commute time.

hunter gatherers work around 45 hours a week if you include commute, housework, and meal prep with the technology we have it is documented that we are 4-100 times more efficient that's it if we work more than 11.25 hours in a week, including the above, we are working too much

When my previous job told us to work remotely (during 2021/2022), I moved out of the expensive city near the office and into a larger, cheaper place in the countryside. I saved $700 a month in rent. You want me back in the office, make it worth it.

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