pay to go to work - but the KSL Investigators found millions of us are doing just
that. And while the
business world contemplates
the 'pros and cons'.. of
bringing people back to the
office.. KSL Investigator Matt
Gephardt has been looking at
the 'dollars and sense'..
working from home is costing
workers.
22 2:053:23 JODY: "C'MON,
CHARLIE." It's the start
of another workday for Jody
Ware. Since the start of
the pandemic... JODY: I'VE
GOT LIKE 85 EMAILS..
...he's been earning his
paycheck from inside his West
Jordan home. Jody says
working from home hasn't cost
a lot. His bosses sent him
home with a laptop, extra
monitor, other equipment,
plus... JODY WARE"THEY GIVE
US A LITTLE BIT OF ALLOWANCE
FOR INTERNET, BECAUSE IT HAS
TO BE HAS TO BE AT A CERTAIN
RATE." Jody's biggest
expense: a hundred-dollar
office chair he says is easily
offset. JODY: "I'M SAVING A
WHOLE BUNCH OF MONEY ON FUEL.
YOU KNOW, EVEN GROCERIES HAS
BEEN CHEAPER."
While working from home has
been a win for many, the K-S-L
Investigators found it's
kicking other workers right in
their wallet. Four
out of ten remote workers in
one study, said they spent
between a hundred and five
hundred dollars on their home
office during the pandemic.
12-percent spent more
than a thousand bucks.
And the National Bureau of
Economic Research found
renters working from home
spend roughly 7-percent 6.5 -
7.4 more on housing because of
the need for more office space.
For homeowners,
that number is around 9-
percent. 8.4 - 9.8
But experts say the real
expenses can be harder to
calculate... file cabinet nats
Sure you already had a
home with room for an office -
But now your company is
getting it rent free. nats of
Ethernet cable clicking into
port Sure, you already
had home internet - but now
your company gets to use it
for free. nats of A/C firing
up Sure you already
pay to cool your house, but
now your company is benefiting
from your personal expense.
That particular
expense, researchers found
climbed by 40-to-50 dollars a
month more on energy for the
average remote worker during
last summer. somehting quick
with Kreiner
University of Utah school of
business professor Glen
Kreiner has been studying work
form home costs since long
before the pandemic forced us
indoors. And Kreiner
says a permanent widescale
shift to work-from-home gives
workers leverage. GLEN
KREINER"THERE'S A DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN, HERE'S SOMETHING I
WANT, AND I'M WILLING TO INCUR
THE COST VERSUS SOMETHING
THAT'S BEING FORCED ON ME SAY,
WAIT A MINUTE, I GOT TO
RETHINK THE PARAMETERS OF THIS
DEAL. RIGHT?"
Another potential cost,
promotion. In a
pre-covid study, researchers
found working from home
lowered promotion rates by 50
percent. Workers feared
they were passed over because
they're not in the office.
Kreiner says managers must get
past that bias by developing
criteria to evaluate remote
workers. What's the quality
of the work? Is it on time?
Are they mentoring peers
while at home? KREINER:
"FIGURE OUT WHAT THOSE
IMPORTANT CRITERIA ARE, RATHER
THAN THAT SORT OF GUT CHECK OF
I KNOW THESE FOLKS, BECAUSE
THEY'RE AROUND ME ALL THE
TIME." Whether it's
promotion or more tangible
costs, Kreiner says now is the
time for companies and their
workers to talk about which
expenses have shifted. GLEN
KREINER"LOOK, HERE ARE THE
ACTUAL COSTS THAT I'M
INCURRING FROM WORKING FROM
HOME, WHICH OF THESE SEEM
APPROPRIATE FOR THE COMPANY TO
BE REIMBURSING ME" JEFF: "ANY
OF THE PEOPLE YOU SEE HERE
TODAY......" Here's a
place where dispatching the
workforce has saved some
money: CHG Healthcare's
headquarters in Midvale.
Jeff Freeman, CHG's senior
vice president of Culture and
Engagement, showed me how
they're seeing big savings in
everything from office
supplies and utilities to
cleaning services and food.
FREEMAN: "WE HAVE A FULL
KITCHEN, THAT HAS NOT BEEN IN
OPERATION FOR THE PAST 14
MONTHS" But the hands-down
biggest savings: exterior
construction. CHG was
planning to expand - build a
whole, new additional building
to house all the on site
employees. FREEMAN: WE
PUT THAT ON HOLD, AT THE AT
THE ONSET OF THIS PANDEMIC"
GEP: "AND THAT'S GONNA SAVE
YOU SOME MONEY? YOU'RE
LITERALLY NOT BUILDING A WHOLE
BUILDING."FREEMAN: "IT DOES,
RIGHT, IT DOES." Now
Freeman wonders if they'll
ever pull that pin out.
Before the pandemic, they
allowed about 150 people to
work form home. Now, after
sending nearly 3-thousand
staffers home, and seeing
their business thrive, they're
working with the about-half
who don't really want to come
back - at least not full time.
Now, to work out how to
share costs. CHG is
providing things like
computers, chairs and all the
other physical amenities
they'd have if they were in
the building...well - most.
GEP: "YOU'RE NOT LIKE SENDING
A TREADMILL HOME WITH
EVERYBODY TO STAY IN SHAPE?"
JEFF: "LAUGH - NO, NO."
Freeman says they're
bringing back their workforce
on a hybrid approach with jobs
split between the office and
home. Meanwhile, the
money saved, he says they are
reinvesting in their employees
- going into new remote tech,
training and collaborative
space redesign. FREEMAN: WE
KNOW THAT THIS, THIS MODEL IS
HERE TO STAY."
If you find
yourself now paying in round-
about ways to do your job,
experts say there is a right
way and a wrong way to talk to
your boss about it. Some
tips, attached to this story
on our website, KSL-TV.com.
We've talked about signs of the drought, here's a 650 pound sign..... a thirsty