‘Can’t go back’: 26-year-old faced with big work from home dilemma

A worker has revealed a big work from home dilemma he faced – now he’s wondering if he made the right choice.

Would you accept a lower salary if it meant you could work from home?

Or, would a higher salary be enough to convince you to go back into the office four days a week, with an hour commute each way?

This was the choice recently presented to Queensland man Erik Bernard when he received two job offers in the IT support field from different companies.

One was for a not-for-profit that ultimately ended up offering a $80,000 salary, with 11 per cent superannuation and included four days a week working from home.

The other job was with the government, with a salary of $93,000, 12.75 per cent super and 17.5 per cent leave loading.

However, the position would require Erik to be in the Brisbane office four days a week, which – with peak hour traffic – would take at least an hour each way.

Erik Bernard recently had to choose between working from home for less money or commuting to the office for a higher salary. Picture: Erik Bernard/Instagram

The 26-year-old had a tough time deciding between the two jobs. Picture: Picture: Erik Bernard/Facebook

Like many Australians, the 26-year-old had grown accustomed to working from home at least a few times a week, so the idea of having to be in the office all but one day was enough to give him pause.

Being stuck with which job to choose, the young worker took to Reddit to help with the decision.

He explained the situation, adding that the government job would likely be the more challenging of the two, though he would be “pretty much guaranteed a decent pay rise every year”.

He noted that both jobs have promised “a lot of progression”.

“Both have their perks and I will be able to learn a lot in either role. Is working from home worth taking that much money off the table?” he asked.

The post recieved more than 400 responses, with commenters pretty evenly split in what they would choose, though Erik did believe there was a slight skew towards people encouraging him to do what would make him “happier mentally”, which would be the WFH job.

“Lots of commenters said that their time is very valuable, and they’d rather spend it at home with their family as opposed to being in the office,” he told news.com.au.

“There were some comments however, telling me to be realistic about my financial situation and how turning down extra money now will make it harder for me to negotiate in future.”

Erik turned to Reddit for help in making the decision. Picture: Reddit

The 2024 Employment and Salary Trends Report from people2people Recruitment found that the majority of remote or hybrid workers would want a 20 per cent or more pay rise in order to return to the office full time.

The survey of more than 10,000 employees across Australia, New Zealand and the UK found 12 per cent of people would expect a raise of more than 20 per cent and 37 per cent would expect an increase between 10 and 20 per cent.

Additionally, 32 per cent would expect a modest raise of five to 10 per cent, while 19 per cent anticipate a minimal increase of up to five per cent.

Ultimately, Erik decided to go with the in-office job and has been working in the role for four months now.

“I decided that at my age, the extra money is more important than having that extra hour of sleep. I have a mortgage after all, I can put up with the travel for just a few years longer, is what I told myself,” he said.

When he was 19, he saved up every dollar he earned and borrowed money from his parents in order to purchase a house and land package.

At the time, the federal government was offering a $20,000 first homeowners grant and interest rates were around two per cent.

Erik bought a house and land package when he was 19, since then, his mortgage repayments have doubled. Picture: Erik Bernard/Supplied

Since then, his monthly mortgage has almost doubled, increasing from $1900 to $3200. Fortunately, Erik’s salary has also doubled during that time so he has been able to keep up with his repayments.

“It just sucks knowing you’re paying all this extra money towards the interest and not the actual loan,” he said.

“I missed out on a lot of travelling but I’m still glad I got into the market before it went crazy.”

While he is happy with his recent job decision and he genuinely likes the work he is doing, the 26-year-old still can’t help but wonder if he made the right choice.

Erik said that every morning before heading into work and every afternoon coming home is a “mental battle”.

“I know I probably sound lazy but once you get a taste of working from home and ditching traffic, you can’t go back to full-time office work,” he said.

Once he is in the office, Erik enjoys the environment and gets along well with his co-workers. Though he said one issue is the temptation to chat with people and spend unneccessary money on food and coffee.

When he works from home, the 26-year-old says he gets more work done because there are less distractions and he is able to just grab food at home rather than walking outside to buy something.

He also noted that the extra hour of sleep on his WFH morning is “priceless”.

While Erik treasures his remote days, he tries not to dwell too much on what it would have been like if he chose the other job and instead focuses on all the perks of his new role.

“I know I would have been more comfortable in terms of work-life balance as I would only have to go into the office once a week but that could have also made me too comfortable on the lower salary and would’ve limited my networking opportunities for further renumeration increases,” he said.

“I think working harder now and showing face could lead to more opportunities down the track. Plus, I’ve made some friends and thoroughly enjoy the work I do for this specific dept.”

Knowing what he knows now, Erik said that if he were presented with a similar choice in the future he would try and match his current salary but push for extra WFH days, rather than pushing for even more money but having to continue travelling into the office as often as he does.

Though he did admit he would probably accept slightly less money than he is making now if presented with a fully remote position.

“Ultimately, it’s hard to say if I’m 100 per cent content with my choice,” Erik said.

“The job is exciting, and I enjoy the extra money but every time I’m sitting in traffic, and I get home late, I wonder if I made the right decision.”

Originally published as ‘Can’t go back’: 26-year-old faced with big work from home dilemma