As companies (and the employees who work for them) continue the work-from-home debate post-COVID-19, a study from Finder.com has calculated the real costs of returning to the office full-time for employees.
According to the article, the average American spends more than $14,000 a year commuting to work full-time.
The study found that more than 60 million Americans, or 8 in 10 employees, commute by vehicle for their jobs, while only 11.7 percent of employees work from home. When taking the current U.S. median household income of about $75,000 into account, the study estimated the cost of driving to work (25-30 miles, parking and buying lunch) came to an average of $14,124.11, which is 18.8 percent of the median household income.
The work-from-home debate has reignited among building owners/facility managers and employees since companies such as Google, Amazon, Tesla, Disney and JP Morgan Chase are bringing their employees back into the office or are starting to do so. The Finder.com article cited ResumeBuilder’s research saying nine in 10 employers are projected to implement return-to-office mandates by the end of 2024.
Many studies have shown the employees have increased their productivity working remotely, while employers claim their workers returning to the office has increased their revenues.
According to the article, Hawaii is the most expensive state for full-time commuters, who are estimated to spend $21,824.45 a year — about $91.63 per day — on commuting full time based on spending for fuel, parking and lunch, followed by the District of Columbia ($18,611.65), New York ($18,363.16) and California ($17,677.93). Hybrid workers were spending less, but the total was still more than $13,000 a year in Hawaii for employees working in the office three days a week.
Wyoming ($10,195.62), or $43 per day, Oklahoma ($11,405.44) and Kansas ($11,498.31) were the top 10 most affordable states for full-time commuting.
When factoring public transit into the equation, Alaska, at $15,302.84 per year, was easily the most expensive followed by New York ($7,484.82) and Rhode Island ($7,446.81). Wyoming was the most affordable place to commute by public transit at $1,255 per year.
Dave Lubach is executive editor for the facility market.
