[bmj]

Fully remote work has always benefited the employer more than the employee, at least financially. Before the pandemic closed my employer's local office space (we were all told just to work from home), part of the employer's budget for each employee included infrastructure costs (office space, furniture, internet access, maybe food, beverages, etc). My salary did not change when I became fully remote, so the company realized significant savings by telling one hundred to just work from home.

Now, if a company has always been fully remote, then, yes, this sort of thing is ultimately going to hurt the employee because the company needs to recuperate those unplanned costs.

Personally, as a fully remote employee, I don't how to feel about this. Sure, I'd love my employer to offset some of my utility costs, but I also don't want them to assume that means they can control their use (which is their right in the context of an office space).

[mensetmanusman]

Maybe for some, but it has certainly benefited me more than my employer because I value my time.

[zacharytelschow]

Not just time, but cost also. As my wife also works from home we've been able to scale back to a single car for 2 years now. Since owning, insuring, fueling, repairing, and maintaining a car typically runs $6k-$10k/year (depending on your tastes and mileage) I've gotten a substantial financial benefit from being remote.

[bmj]

I guess I should have qualified that with "financially."

I also value my time, so I am not inclined to push for such a law in my state.

[WalterBright]

Don't forget the remote employee benefits from not having commute expense and time costs, and work clothing costs.

[judge2020]

Unless it was already a short-term lease agreement, which is not super common in CRE, chances are your company was still footing the bill for their lease on that office space. Most office space is leased on 5-10 year terms.

[bmj]

You are correct, but it was sublet to a new tenant. And my employer is not on the hook for paying for their food and coffee, and internet access.

[0cf8612b2e1e]

Pretty sure the internet bill is still going up be paid.

[red-iron-pine]

different contracts. ISPs may or may not be tied to the building. Our bandwidth in our offices was generally on 2-year contracts. We were locked into the building for 10-years, but if we wanted to turn off the power and water and phones we could have.

[lobocinza]

> I'd love my employer to offset some of my utility costs.

Yes but I would rather be paid more than waste my time and divulge a lot about my life to my employer. While these might be beneficial in the short term to those already employed this might hurt remote work employers and employees.

[akira2501]

> Personally, as a fully remote employee, I don't how to feel about this.

Really? Just ask for a raise.

[dragonwriter]

> Fully remote work has always benefited the employer more than the employee

All work in a roughly capitalist system does, except by temporary accident, that's sort of a defining feature.