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HR experts

ended 02. August 2022

A journalist at the Mail Online is writing  a story this AM about how much it could cost to work from home this winter (and comparing this to the cost of commuting, to see what the difference could be). He'd like some quick commentary on what you think will happen this winter - will people start coming back into the office because it's too expensive to heat their home. It'd be interesting to know if you are hearing about these discussions already among employers, and whether the energy bills crisis could flip the trend of working from home on its head. If anyone is  involved in the energy market, then it’d also be interesting to hear from you, too.

 

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Sam Alsop-Hall
Chief Strategy Officer at Clive Henry Group
I’ve been leading teams for years, but this week is the first time I’ve heard a lunch time conversation about energy bills in the office. Even middle managers in our organisation seem alarmed and concerned about the increasing cost of energy and the next increase expected in October. One of our team predicts his energy bills will be close to £500 a month - “more than my car”. We have office space in Birmingham City Centre which is open 24/7 for employees and expect many will forgo the right to work from home this winter as they quickly weigh up the cost of fuel to get to work vs the cost of fuel to heat their homes.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
I think a flexible approach is going to be most peoples preferred options, employers included. Although energy bills at home are going through the roof, the cost of commuting and the time it adds on to your day are real bugbears.vIf you do work from home you can claim some money back from HMRC for the cost of heating your home. It will mean doing a self assessment, and the entitlement isn’t overly generous, but with bills going up it will be more worthwhile.
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Dr Marianne Trent
Clinical Psychologist at Good Thinking Psychology
"It's always nice to have choices and control. A church local to me have announced that they will be having an 'open door' programme where they heat their function room and make food freely available. People are welcome to come along to keep warm and get nourished too. It would be wonderful to see this rolled out across the country and being used by a cross-section of the community so that people working remotely could use it as a flexible work space too. This would be better for the environment than heating lots of separate homes too.
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Liam Molesworth
Chief Executive Officer at Mprove
Off the back of the UK’s highest ever recorded temperatures, I think the public aren’t thinking this far ahead. However, with the cost of heating a home predicted to rise up to £3,500 per year, it will soon be on the forefront of everyone's minds. As a business, we give our employees access to our offices 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which I hope helps any of our staff save money this winter and I would suggest any business owner, if possible, offers the same.
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Rachel Hayward
MD at Ask the Chameleon
I've always had a tendency to wear many jumpers when writing from home in the past rather than put the heating on, and I am left wondering how many more layers I will need to wear this winter, before I am unable to reach the keyboard. The biting cost of energy is looming large, and I will be weighing up the costs of hot desking in Derby versus the heating bill. My work has always been a roller coaster in sales and I will need to make adjustments once more in my business outgoings. Sensible practice though this may be, I am worried, but also extremely concerned for my fellow small business owners who are already struggling and vulnerable people in my community. These past few years would test Hercules.
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Louise Skittrall
HR Expert at Robinson Grace HR Consultancy
The cost of living increase is hitting hard, and with further energy price rises due in October, things are set to get worse. For many who have embraced remote or hybrid working, this may prompt them to reflect on whether it's more cost-effective to commute to a warm office, or remain working from home and heating their workspace. Whilst this may lead a few to transition back to the office, I think the more likely scenario is for staff to ask for a working from home allowance if one is not already paid by their employer, or for a review of the working from home allowance if they are already in receipt of one. In the same way that we have seen the National Living Wage embraced, it would be easy to see a wave of campaigning begin to ensure that all employers offer a working from home allowance, providing a contribution to electricity and heating. We are used to the rush to buy fans and cool mats in the Summer months. Retailers are likely to see increased demand for portable heaters to enable households to heat just the office space rather than running the central heating all day. The benefits of working from home post-pandemic versus escalating fuel costs is yesterday's conundrum. Today's dilemma is focused on heating your home versus the cost of commuting to the office, and weighing up the financial impact of these options.