People who work from home should be paid less, it’s only fair

A new report signals that bosses want to pay staff who work from home less money – and it’s only fair, argues Caleb Bond.

OPINION

Good news, work-from-home bludgers – your pay might be cut.

A new Future of Work Report by global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, which surveyed 500 senior managers at major companies, has revealed that 37 per cent want to “differentiate” the pay of work-from-home and office-based employees.

Thirty eight per cent expect working from home to become a privilege and 70 per cent expect more work to be done from the office in the next five years.

Hallelujah. I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again – get off your lazy arse and go back to the office.

Many workplaces have tried to get people back to the office and faced serious pushbacks.

Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn told his staff to come back to the office half the time earlier this year.

Caleb Bond says businesses want staff back in the office - and are willing to compensate accordingly. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Some bosses believe working from home makes you harder to contact and deal with.

They weren’t having a bar of that and called in the union.

He only asked them to come back 50 per cent of the time. If you can’t comply with such a modest request then you ought to have your pay cut.

It only seems fair that if you don’t want to comply with the wishes of your boss then they’ll allow you to do so – as long as you concede some pay.

Then you can make the choice.

I know many people enjoy working from home. They say it provides better work life balance.

And that may be so – but it makes you harder to contact and deal with.

In the office, the boss can eyeball you. Your workmates can walk from one desk to another to get something done instead of scheduling a Zoom meeting in your calendar for 1pm on Thursday.

You build collaboration and team bonding that you just can’t get by holing yourself up at home.

At some point it changes from working from home to shirking from home.

Commonwealth Bank employees pushed back after being asked to come into the office 50 per cent of the time. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

It’s not that employers want to do away with home-working entirely – 63 per cent of the bosses surveyed in the aforementioned report said they had rearranged work hours to accommodate remote workers.

They’d just prefer workers to be in the office and will compensate accordingly.

A large number of people now working at home were never employed on work-from-home contracts.

They were sent home during Covid and now want to stay there.

Covid lockdowns weren’t a mandate to change your working conditions. They were temporary measures demanded by the government.

If your ability to work from home wasn’t negotiated into your contract, then you have no right to refuse a request to return to the office.

But bosses clearly recognise that some staff simply will not be forced back to the office because their entitlement is off the charts. So differentiating rates of pay is the perfect way to deal with it.

Workplaces will allow you to work remotely but, in recognition of the fact that you’re harder to contact and don’t collaborate with colleagues in person, you will be paid less.

Working from home means you incur fewer costs, such as travel, anyway so it is entirely fair.

Those who spend time with their colleagues and make themselves more readily available to their bosses will be better compensated.

If you expect the same pay for performing your job differently then you are, quite simply, entitled.

Consider yourself privileged enough to have the choice to work from home.

I work in television. If I didn’t rock up to the studio, I wouldn’t have a job. A gardener, or a nurse, or a bus driver doesn’t have the option to work from home – they have to turn up, day in and day out.

If you can’t see why it is fair then you’re part of the reason it needs to happen.

Caleb Bond is an Sydney-based commentator and host of The Late Debate on Sky News Australia.

Originally published as People who work from home should be paid less, it’s only fair