Many workers feel the strain of the cost-of-living crisis. For example, petrol prices reached an all-time high. Additionally, rail fares increased at their fastest rate in nine years, according to a Business Leader article.

Consequently, commuting has become surprisingly expensive. This is mainly true if your workplace isn’t within easy walking or cycling distance. This situation raises an important question: Should you consider working from home, as many did during lockdown?

What Financial Support is Available to You?

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak recently took steps to support UK households during the cost-of-living crisis. His measures include a £150 council tax rebate and a £200 repayable discount on energy bills, available from October.

Therefore, some of the money previously spent on tax and energy might now support commuting costs. However, these government measures serve more as a lifeline than a luxury.

Could You Easily Switch Back to Working from Home?

You might never have entirely stopped commuting. Even if you shifted away from your work-from-home routine as COVID restrictions eased, you could quickly resume it. Especially if you still have your original equipment.

Moreover, returning to remote work offers another benefit. You likely know which office setup suits you best if you’ve worked from home regularly since March 2020. In short, this time would involve much less trial and error.

Many Employees are Already Yearning to Work from Home

In a poll of 2,992 workers, 45% reported attempting to persuade their managers to let them work from home more often.

The workers’ objective was to mitigate rising fuel costs, but only 25% of the survey respondents said these costs would not change their working arrangements. According to People Management, another 35% said they did not know.

A separate poll, in this instance of over 1,000 UK-based managers, revealed that a third of them were concerned about their organisations’ financial performance. Consequently, 48% had decided against giving pay raises for 2022.

How Working from Home Could Benefit Both Employers and Employees

“Cost pressures are hitting employers and employees alike, and something in the system will have to give,” Anthony Painter — the director of policy at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), which held the above survey, admitted.

However, for companies, implementing a work-from-home policy would cost them far less than pay raises, as it literally wouldn’t cost them anything.

Meanwhile, even if you wonder, as a worker, “What is a webinar platform?” You may be pleasantly surprised by how quickly you can get to grips with keeping in touch with co-workers and customers from a distance.

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Moughees is an enthusiastic essayist who loves to share his ideas. His extensive involvement with the field of content curation combined with his background in computer sciences make him a worthwhile read on all subjects related to tech and innovation