Want To Earn Less? Stay Home!

 

It’s been nine and a half years since I officially became a remote worker. After a quarter-century toiling in various offices throughout New York City, I would be less than forthcoming if I said it didn’t take some getting used to.

I immediately missed the camaraderie of colleagues, as my contact with the outside world was often limited to emails and phone calls and the frequency of talking to myself increased exponentially.

The flip side to that was that I rarely lost an argument. And still don’t.

But I digress.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic juxtaposed the typical working dynamic almost immediately. Offices were shuttered and those companies fortunate to have state of the art technology made the change from on-premises to remote without too many speedbumps.

Now that many businesses, including of course, CPA firms large and small, have eased their guidelines and reopened, an interesting trend, has surfaced.

Many workers who have worked remotely over the past 18 months or so, like it so much they’re willing to take a cut in pay to remain that way. An online survey by Breeze, an insurance company, found that 65 percent of those polled and whose positions could be done remotely said they would be willing to accept a cut in compensation up to 15 percent to remain homebound.

Nearly half of those participants indicated they would relinquish up to one-quarter of their paid days off to remain remote, while another 15 percent said they would sacrifice ALL their PTO to continue working from home.

But as Phil Swift of TV infomercial fame often bellows, “Wait there’s more!”

Most respondents agreed they would work an additional 10 hours per week and 39 percent said they’d give up their health insurance benefits. Thirty six percent said they would forfeit their 401(k) plans.

That last part I had to read twice before it sunk in.

Now, don’t get me wrong, remote work has its advantages – many of them unrelated to job-related duties – i.e., deliveries, home, and auto maintenance, all of which doesn’t have to wait for the weekend.

I know a number of companies and accounting firms that faced more than a little resistance when they tried to order their staff back to the office – a backlash that forced some to a compromise by dividing the working week between onsite and remote.

For myself it will remain status quo. Neither a raise nor a pay cut. But I’m still taking all my vacation days and continuing to invest in my retirement plan.

After all, “There’s no place like home,” only goes so far.