If you’re an employer trying to lure employees into the office, perks like ping pong tables, free snacks and trendy decor are unlikely to make a difference. Consider a more practical benefit instead: Cover their travel expenses.
About 8 in 10 employees say they would be more willing to return to the office if their employer paid for their travel, according to a survey of 1,038 workers conducted by Ringover, a recruiting and sales platform. Ringover asked remote workers (or those who were until recently) about what it would take for them to return to the office.
Workers spent an average of $8,466 a year, or about $700 a month, to commute to the office, taking into account gas, car maintenance, lost income from commuting and job, auto insurance, and more, according to a 2023 Bankrate survey. This is a drastic increase from 2019, when the average annual cost of travel ranged from a low of $2,000 in states like West Virginia to a high of $5,000 in North Dakota.
And even though commute times in several cities have decreased since the pandemic, the average one-way commute to the office is still about 27 minutes, according to the New York Times. That’s about an hour spent each day commuting back and forth to work, and many remote workers now view this time as time that could be better spent in their personal lives.
There is always an exception, of course. A class of “super commuters” is willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for their trips to save costs elsewhere. Some workers have moved to smaller, less expensive cities during the pandemic, but still work in more expensive metro areas. They say the money they save on rent outweighs the cost of plane tickets, hotel rates and even the hassle of planning a long-term commute.
businessinsider
