[mattchamb]

My company just closed our local office and forced everyone to work from home permanently. I rent a room and do not have a dedicated office space to make WFH comfortable. In order to make remote work viable, I will have to find a new rental and spend an extra $800 per month for an office. These are extra costs the company has forced on me.

[smileysteve]

Wework is one of the more costly hot desk options; and can be had for less than $800 a month. You should also recommend your employer consider services like this.

[mattchamb]

I have asked about these options, and I am pushing for something; but the company was recently acquired by PE so they are tight with every dollar.

[CodeSgt]

I mean that's not a forced cost, that's a cost you've chosen to burden yourself with. I've done WFH in a rented room before and I made it work. It wasn't a life of luxury but I didn't feel particularly cramped. I was already living in that room and already had a computer desk set up.

Worst case scenario you're always free to find another employer. I'd be willing to take an effective $800 pay cut for work from home (if I didn't have it already, that is). But I suppose you prefer to be in the office, and that's fine.

Did you plan on living in that room forever? If it was too small for you to comfortably work from home in I imagine you'd have been moving out sometime soon anyway. At worst the job just made you take on that additional expense a bit earlier than you'd have preferred.

[mattchamb]

I prefer to have some separation between my home life and work life. It isn't about the amount of space, but being able to achieve that mental separation for my own mental health. Previously that was achieved by having a company provided office space that I commuted to.

The company decided unilaterally that they no longer want to provide that space and are now altering our existing deal to force that cost on to me.