Translate attendance into annual journeys
Use the difference between the current and proposed office requirement. Moving from two to four office days adds two round trips each working week.
Additional office days/year = (proposed office days/week − current office days/week) × working weeksAcross 46 working weeks, two additional office days produce 92 extra round trips.
Calculate the cash difference
If each extra office day costs £11 in transport, parking or fuel, the direct annual increase is £1,012. Keep the input realistic: where a season ticket changes the marginal cost of each trip, compare the actual expected annual spending rather than multiplying a misleading per-trip estimate.
Calculate the time difference separately
A 65-minute extra round trip repeated 92 times equals about 99.7 hours. Keeping time separate avoids hiding it inside the cash calculation.
| Change | Illustrative annual effect |
|---|---|
| Extra office days | 92 |
| Extra travel cost at £11/day | £1,012 |
| Extra commute time at 65 min/day | 99.7 hours |
Use an optional time value as a scenario
Some users want to know the additional take-home salary that would compensate for both travel spending and personal time. Others only care about cash. Work Decisions therefore lets the time value be set to zero or varied as a sensitivity test rather than presenting one universal value.
Check how much the answer changes when you value time differently
Using the example above, the direct travel cost is £1,012 and the additional commute time is about 99.7 hours. If you only want a cash comparison, the break-even take-home premium is £1,012. If you test personal time at £10/hour, the comparison becomes about £2,009; at £20/hour it becomes about £3,006.
| Time-value scenario | Travel cost | Time component | Illustrative break-even |
|---|---|---|---|
| £0/hour | £1,012 | £0 | £1,012 |
| £10/hour | £1,012 | £997 | £2,009 |
| £20/hour | £1,012 | £1,994 | £3,006 |
The range is more informative than pretending one value is correct. It shows how dependent the decision is on the importance you personally attach to travel time.
Office attendance can also provide collaboration, training, social contact or progression benefits. A break-even figure measures a cost change; it does not score those qualitative benefits.