Remote Employees Willing to Accept This Much Less in Salary

As much as companies are trying to get employees back into offices, those who had a taste of remote work during the pandemic are increasingly resistant to the idea. So much so that workers are willing to take a pay cut to work from home.

This is according to Stanford University economist Nicholas Bloom; a leading voice in remote-work research. Bloom told USA Today that the average prospective employee is willing give up about 8 percent in annual salary for a job that is partly or fully remote; or about $4,600 per year based on a median U.S. salary of $57,200 for full-time workers.

But in addition to foregoing a commute and getting back those precious hours in a day, the decrease in salary is more than made up for by employees being able to prepare their own meals, make their own coffee, care for their own pets, and so on—not to mention the cost of the commute itself.

FlexJobs, a remote-work website that conducts surveys on the value of telework, found that remote workers spend at least $6,000 less per year than their office-bound counterparts. But that’s on the low end of the spectrum. 

Researchers published by the videoconferencing company Owl Labs estimates that full-time office workers spend about $1,020 per month, or over $12,000 per year, commuting, which includes a daily average of $16 spent on lunch, $14 on commuting, $13 on breakfast and coffee, and $8 on parking. Pet owners likewise spend an average of $20 a day on animal care.

Of course, there are also a few downsides to working from home, such as not ever feeling fully “off the clock” and the inevitable weight gain that comes with a comparatively sedentary lifestyle. Yet, it seems safe to say that the pros outweigh the cons, especially when both employees and their employers are saving money.