Worked example
Moving from two office days to five can create well over 100 additional journeys a year, before even considering the time spent travelling.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the answer a take-home premium?
The costs are paid from your disposable income and personal time, so the cleanest comparison is against additional take-home pay.
What if the proposed role has cheaper parking or travel?
Use the actual expected cost per office day for the proposed arrangement.
Price the change in office attendance
Hybrid arrangements can differ by only one or two office days yet create dozens of additional journeys over a year. Enter the current and proposed office frequency, then use a realistic round-trip travel cost and travel time for a typical office day.
The result estimates the additional take-home pay required to offset those extra costs and the value you assign to extra commuting time. If the new arrangement uses a different office or route, enter the proposed journey rather than assuming your existing commute remains representative.
Before agreeing to a new hybrid pattern, consider
- parking, rail fares and peak-time price differences;
- whether office attendance is contractual or manager-dependent;
- childcare or pet-care changes on office days;
- home-working costs or allowances that may also change.
The break-even premium is the extra annual take-home amount that would compensate for the additional travel and time assumptions you entered. Benefits of office attendance should be weighed separately.