They do, if the travel is for work, but not for their home-work commute. Some companies do still offer some compensation for that otherwise, but that’s pretty uncommon.
Which country are you in where you get to expense the commute to your designated office?
I’m in the UK and have never heard of this. Sure, if you’re a home worker but that’s not who RTO is targeted at. Or if you’re asked to travel to a non-designate site, client site etc
I’ve worked in the Netherlands and Belgium, both gave me compensation for travelling to work. In the Netherlands they paid my gas. In Belgium it was a fixed stipulation depending on distance and mode of travel. Honestly I can’t see how anything else is not just a rip off.
I’ve considered this many times. But I just can’t see a fair way to do this.
You either compensate with money or with time. I would gladly pay 3x my commute monetary cost to just teleport there, so at least in my case time compensation would be much better. So how to do it?
Option 1: Clock in when leaving the house, but that is incredibly easy to cheat.
Option 2: Calculate once per employee the time it should take them to get there based on their transportation method. They can just claim to commute in a time-inefficient method (such as walking or cycling) when they go in car instead. What happens to people that don’t always use the same method?
Option 3: Reduce the work hours for everyone by the same amount. This is amazing, but you can do this without claiming it’s for commute compensation. If you only do this reduction when not WFH, then you are basically punishing those who WFH and would have a short commute time. The ones on the top would just WFH 99% of the time from very far away and get massive commute compensations otherwise. Even then, the times they go to the office would be massively beneficial.
In the US 1099 employees can write gas (or miles) off on their taxes (but that’s because they are classified as an independent contractor). I’ve also worked contract jobs (again in the US) where travel was compensated at X amount per mile (no where near the actual cost of gas was but it helped cover travel). But I’ve never been compensated for travel working a standard 9-5 job unless I went to a work event and was offered per diem.
I’m Estonian, travel compensation for your personal vehicle is tax-free if you use it FOR work. But compensation for going to work? Regular income and social taxes, so basically no employers do it.
And why would you, anyway? I know if I had an in person job with a commute compensation it’d incentivize me to move further away. Why live in the city if your company would pay you to commute an hour each way from the countryside and you don’t see your neighbours from your windows.
Some companies will pay for your bus pass though. That makes more sense as an employer than paying someone more to commute from further away lol
Yes this was my thinking. And in fact the salary reflects where in our country the role is so you could argue that the cost of commuting is baked in. Certainly in London it’s called “London weighting” where extra money is added to your salary.
Still, the original Op seems to in Belgium/NL so good result for him/her
Now it even makes less sense why Americans like to commute so long
I prioritize living near work. While I understand that there are other factors when it comes to housing, I feel like commute is given way too low of a priority by most people. It not only represents actual cost (e.g. fuel and vehicle expenses) but is a huge tax on one’s leisure time. After work, sleep, and various other tasks you might only have a few hours to yourself each day. Commute time comes straight out of that.
They do, if the travel is for work, but not for their home-work commute. Some companies do still offer some compensation for that otherwise, but that’s pretty uncommon.
So they don’t… During the job is just part of the job, that’s not compensation. Now it even makes less sense why Americans like to commute so long
Which country are you in where you get to expense the commute to your designated office?
I’m in the UK and have never heard of this. Sure, if you’re a home worker but that’s not who RTO is targeted at. Or if you’re asked to travel to a non-designate site, client site etc
I’ve worked in the Netherlands and Belgium, both gave me compensation for travelling to work. In the Netherlands they paid my gas. In Belgium it was a fixed stipulation depending on distance and mode of travel. Honestly I can’t see how anything else is not just a rip off.
I’ve considered this many times. But I just can’t see a fair way to do this.
You either compensate with money or with time. I would gladly pay 3x my commute monetary cost to just teleport there, so at least in my case time compensation would be much better. So how to do it?
Option 1: Clock in when leaving the house, but that is incredibly easy to cheat.
Option 2: Calculate once per employee the time it should take them to get there based on their transportation method. They can just claim to commute in a time-inefficient method (such as walking or cycling) when they go in car instead. What happens to people that don’t always use the same method?
Option 3: Reduce the work hours for everyone by the same amount. This is amazing, but you can do this without claiming it’s for commute compensation. If you only do this reduction when not WFH, then you are basically punishing those who WFH and would have a short commute time. The ones on the top would just WFH 99% of the time from very far away and get massive commute compensations otherwise. Even then, the times they go to the office would be massively beneficial.
For money, it’s basically the same.
I just don’t think it can be done fairly.
That’s a really interesting insight, thanks. We just get so used to the norm that we know.
In the US 1099 employees can write gas (or miles) off on their taxes (but that’s because they are classified as an independent contractor). I’ve also worked contract jobs (again in the US) where travel was compensated at X amount per mile (no where near the actual cost of gas was but it helped cover travel). But I’ve never been compensated for travel working a standard 9-5 job unless I went to a work event and was offered per diem.
My work will cover public transit costs for commutes but not gas.
About 75% of us are in the US so… No public transit to cover. Coincidence?
They actually may only cover that cost for US employees… I need to ask my EU colleagues. That’d be a real “fuck you” if so.
I’m Estonian, travel compensation for your personal vehicle is tax-free if you use it FOR work. But compensation for going to work? Regular income and social taxes, so basically no employers do it.
And why would you, anyway? I know if I had an in person job with a commute compensation it’d incentivize me to move further away. Why live in the city if your company would pay you to commute an hour each way from the countryside and you don’t see your neighbours from your windows.
Some companies will pay for your bus pass though. That makes more sense as an employer than paying someone more to commute from further away lol
Yes this was my thinking. And in fact the salary reflects where in our country the role is so you could argue that the cost of commuting is baked in. Certainly in London it’s called “London weighting” where extra money is added to your salary.
Still, the original Op seems to in Belgium/NL so good result for him/her
I prioritize living near work. While I understand that there are other factors when it comes to housing, I feel like commute is given way too low of a priority by most people. It not only represents actual cost (e.g. fuel and vehicle expenses) but is a huge tax on one’s leisure time. After work, sleep, and various other tasks you might only have a few hours to yourself each day. Commute time comes straight out of that.