How much does it cost to work at your place?

12 October 2022

Employers are being encouraged to think about the costs associated with being at work to aim to help employees to reduce their expenditure.

How much does it cost to work at your place?

Today we’re hearing the terms ‘cost of living’ and ‘cost of living crisis’ pretty much every day, in media, online and during conversations between colleagues, friends and family. But what about the ‘cost of working’?

You’d be forgiven for not having given this any thought, as obviously you would naturally associate work with income, rather than expenditure. But if you employ staff it would be worth stepping back to have a think about how much it might cost someone to work at your place, and what you can do about it.

Here are 5 ideas that might help.

1. Reduce travel to work costs

The most obvious ‘cost of work’ has to be travel. Whether that’s by car or public transport, there’s a cost attached. Some employers are helping employees to reduce this cost through initiatives such as:

  • car share schemes which can be supported through sites such as LiftShare for Work to enable colleagues to travel together to save travel costs
  • community car hire schemes such as Co Wheels that enable your staff to collect a car locally and use it for anything from half an hour
  • Travel passes, pre-paid tickets and season tickets with local transport companies can give employees access to reduced travel on public transport without the need to pay up front, such as Arriva’s Business Travel Scheme.
  • Cycle to Work schemes which make buying a bike more accessible and cheaper through salary sacrifice and tax benefits such as the Bike to Work Scheme.

2. Provide a uniform

If staff already wear uniforms at your workplace and have to pay for them, it would be worth making sure they know that this is a tax deductable cost. More information on .gov website here.

If you don’t currently have a uniform could you introduce one, maybe even just a tshirt and/or sweatshirt that’s standard, to reduce the costs associated with dressing for work?

3. Supplement the cost of home working

Many organisations have moved to hybrid models of working over the past couple of years, with an increasing number of employees working at least 3 days a week at home. That may not necessarily be saving you costs at the workplace, unless you have chosen to reduce your space as a result. But whether you’re saving or not, there is a real cost of working at home for your staff, and recent reports have suggested that this isn’t necessarily offset by the reduced cost of travel.

The most obvious cost is energy – think electricity consumption (monitors, laptops, phone chargers, kettle and, as Winter bites heating the home to make it comfortable for work). Are employees, particularly those on Smart Meters, advised on reducing energy consumption during the working day, as well as being supported to compare the cost of being at home and at work so they can make an informed decision as to which will work better for their pocket?

Over and above that there are other costs to think about, such as broadband and phone. Are you checking that your employees have the best deals available to enable the level of supply they need to work effectively? Have they upscaled their broadband speed at their own cost, and is that a cost you could help out with?

4. Action some cost-cutting around workplace culture

Participation in workplace culture can be very costly, and has the potential to encourage people to spend what they don’t have for fear of being seen to be a stick-in-the-mud, when actually that ‘quick pint after work’ means they will have to walk home today rather than get the bus.

Here are a few of the red flags you maybe need to think about in your workplace:

  • Staff socials – is there a way you could supplement the cost (even on a discrete basis for staff who can’t afford to attend but don’t want to be excluded)?
  • ‘Whip rounds’ for birthdays and leaving gifts – the pandemic did put pay to the person standing at the desk with an envelope for many workplaces, but does this still exist in your organisation? Could you maybe shift collections to online so people are able to opt in, rather than overtly opt out?
  • Sponsorships – when there’s an active workforce doing good, asking colleagues for sponsorship is an obvious thing to do when you’re fundraising, but this can be a real challenge for people. Ditto the above point, and do you have a policy to control this to avoid it getting out of hand?
  • Sweepstakes and gambling – do you have a policy about informal syndicates and participation? If not that might be something to think about.
  • Lunch clubs and staff buffets – this type of initiative can be great for team building but can also put pressure on people’s pockets, so are you able to supplement the cost and ensure that people are still invited to eat but it’s optional to contribute?

5. Check staff know their eligibility for free childcare

An increasing number of parents are seriously thinking about whether they can continue to afford to work with the rapidly increasing cost of childcare. Are your employees clear about what childcare support entitlements they have for children under 18, and are you helping them to take full advantage of them? Obviously there are hoops to jump through to check eligibility, but it’s worth checking because many benefits are underclaimed simply because people don’t know they are entitled. Here are some ideas and links:

Your staff could also get hundreds of free hours childcare when their child is aged 2 to 4, by applying for:

Jayne Graham, Associate Director for Social Action

This article is brought to you by Society Matters cic with the support of the North of Tyne Combined Authority as part of the implementation of Pillar 3 of the Child Poverty Prevention Programme which aims to alleviate in-work poverty for employers across the North of Tyne area.