I've been working from home for a new company for a couple of months now and it's been great, but they are gonna start making us go into the office again. I was told one day in the office per week when I first took the job, which seemed ok to me it's still 4 days working from home. But now they're talking about 2 days a week instead and I'm starting to think this is just the beginning, they may decide 3 days in the office later on, then 4, then every day.
My issue with this is the cost involved in travel. Not counting petrol, just the train costs alone to travel to the city is looking at about just under 10 bucks a day. Even with one day a week it's almost $500 a year, and if they do go for 5 days a week, I'm looking at potentially over $2000 per year.
That's alot of money out of my pocket because a company decided it wants people in the office and I have no choice in the matter.
I personally think it's a bit unfair that companies force employees to go to the office when the employees are the ones who have to pay the costs. Especially since I can't claim it on tax either.
There's also people who have to drive to work and have to spend more on petrol for their commute. And maybe even pay for parking aswell as not all companies have parking for their employees.
People who live closer to the office also have an advantage as their costs would be less. They could bike or walk to work if they are close enough. My city has free trams if you are already within the city, so they wouldn't have to pay for public transport if they are close enough.
Seems unfair to me as people who can afford to live closer to the city will be paying less in commute costs than those who can only afford places further out and must rely on public transport.
What do you think of this? Should companies cover commute costs for their employees or atleast help them with it?
Maybe these costs should be claimable on tax instead?
I'd love to hear everyones thoughts on this