As we watch gas prices tick higher and higher, commercial lessors and middle managers everywhere are anxious to get people back in chairs.
Their chairs. Gross, old, shared-space, contains-the-farts-of-coworkers-past chairs. Nothing at all like the luxurious gaming chair your firm WFH stipend covered, though let’s be honest that one is harboring some ghost farts too.
There is no question that remote workers are saving on gas. According to AAA,
the U.S. average for a gallon is creeping dangerously close to $5 with Georgia coming in lowest at $4.33 and California taking top spot at $6.37.
Everything costs more. And it will cost more tomorrow. We know this. But
a recent Fortune article asks are we really saving money by working at home?
Despite many companies setting April return-to-office deadlines, for the past month, U.S. office occupancy has held steady at roughly 43%, according to
Kastle’s Back to Work Barometer that takes into account rates in 10 major cities. Many employees are pushing back against heading into the office not because of rising COVID caseloads, but arguing that their commutes are too expensive. In fact, a
recent report from Deloitte found nearly 40% of millennials and a third of Gen Zers report that remote work has helped them save money.
But is working from home really a savings game-changer for most workers?
The article goes on to say electricity costs in April were up 11% year over year according to the BLS Consumer Price Index and reminds us that it’s almost summer which means cranking the A/C for most of the country (duh). There’s a bit of good news though, forecasts anticipate milder temps for many parts of the U.S. this summer, residential customers are expected to use 2.9% less electricity than they did last summer. SUCK IT, climate activists. In total, Americans spent an average of $23 more on monthly electric and gas bills for the first four months of 2022 than we did in 2019. So what, that’s like a single avocado toast? Not bad.
The article also mentions internet. Did you know you have to pay for internet when you work from home? Internet that you were already paying for and that doesn’t charge you by the hour like AOL circa 1996? Well they want to remind you that you’re paying for internet anyway. Which you wouldn’t have to do if you made the long slog through traffic hell to show up at the office because there is internet you don’t pay for there:
Internet costs can also be factored into WFH expenses. On average, Americans spent about $120 a month on their Internet and cable bills in 2022 so far, according to Doxo’s data, about on par with what U.S. households spent pre-pandemic. That can vary as some workers opted to upgrade their internet connection during the pandemic—making that monthly cost continually higher too.
They do have a minor point about upgraded internet. Presumably most of you did that a whole two years ago when everyone first went WFH if you needed to.
...Pro Tip: You forgot to add "neener neener", shorty.
www.inc.com
