Here's How Much Money U.S. Employees Will Sacrifice to Avoid Returning to the Office, According to a New Study Ninety percent of U.S. workers don't want to be in the office five days a week.
By Amanda Breen
Key Takeaways
- Prospective employees are willing to take an 8% cut in annual pay for a hybrid or fully remote job.
- The No. 1 perk that would change their mind is a company willing to cover commuting costs.
Nearly four years after the pandemic upended the way we show up for work, many U.S. employees still don't want to return to traditional in-office models.
Prospective employees are willing to take an 8% annual pay cut for a job that's partially or fully remote, Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom told USA Today.
That comes to roughly $4,600 a year, as the median U.S. salary for full-time employees is $57,200, per the outlet.
But employees who work from home are likely to see even more significant savings.
The average employee can save up to $6,000 if they're working from home 50% of the time in a hybrid position — and up to $12,000 if they're fully remote, according to a study from remote-work site FlexJobs.
Some of the biggest savings come in the form of commuting costs, clothing and dining out, per the research.
On average, a commuter in the U.S. spends $8,466 going to and from their work site in a year, or about 19% of their annual income, according to agent-matching service Clever Real Estate.
So perhaps it's not surprising that 90% of Americans don't want to come into the office five days a week, per a Gallup poll — and say that the No. 1 perk that would change their mind (38%) is a company willing to cover 100% of their commuting costs, according to a report from video conferencing company Owl Labs.
