Those who work from home -- Does your employer give you a work-from-home allowance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please reconsider asking your employer to help pay your electric bill. I would be embarrassed to ask for this. You will be office gossip for sure with this request.

+1 Big mistake. You are lucky to have a work-at-home job at all. I would never consider asking the employer for electricity, etc.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the OP is being as ridiculous as many of you think. I currently work as a graphic designer in an office in Denver. The office is shutting down at the end of this month because a new company bought our building and it was decided that we would see how working from home for a while would work.

I also see this as a mostly negative thing. My office was a 5 minute bike ride or drive, and I rode about 50% of the time, so fuel savings/commuting time is next to nothing. I will probably eat out less after the move, but went home or brought lunch frequently, and could have done it easily as much as I wanted. I could show up to work wearing anything I wanted, so that won't change.

I am sure my electricity bill will go up significantly after the switch (I'll have to run the AC most of the day in my room and have a powerful computer with multiple monitors hooked up), which is an issue for me, because I have 2 roommates, it wouldn't be fair to them to have to pay more. But a bigger issue for me than the increased electricity bill are all the things that I will lose. I will now be stuck home alone all day, rather than having the company of coworkers that I get along with, which is a negative both for the loss of some social life as well as a decrease in collaboration which is very valuable to the company and my job. Also, not leaving the house all day is bound to have an effect on my mood and how much I enjoy my job. Not to mention the house that I rent is small and not well suited for working from, I'll be working out of my bedroom all day.

I know it won't be all negative, and I know I'm very lucky to have a good job, but for me it seems like this move is going to cost me more, be less enjoyable, be harder, and save the company loads of money. I may be in the minority on this, but the OP may be in a similar situation where the normal costs/savings and benefits/negatives don't balance out as well as you may think. And it's not particularly fair IMO for me to have to lose money, and lose the benefits of working in an office, while the company makes significantly more.

I am trying to decide what, if anything, I will say to my bosses about this, I love my job, and do feel uncomfortable asking them to pay for my electricity, but as a young person trying to start a savings and make it work in a new city, the loss of a few hundred dollars a month is significant.

[Anonymous]

Get a space heater. Or go to a coffee shop and consider the cost of coffee or tea a good trade for some heated space.

I work from home too (as does DH) and utility bills are higher, general wear and tear on the house is greater. We go through toilet paper at a faster rate. But there are a lot of benefits to working at home.

[Anonymous]

I could see asking to expense computer equipment and printing supplies etc but not electricity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the OP is being as ridiculous as many of you think. I currently work as a graphic designer in an office in Denver. The office is shutting down at the end of this month because a new company bought our building and it was decided that we would see how working from home for a while would work.

I also see this as a mostly negative thing. My office was a 5 minute bike ride or drive, and I rode about 50% of the time, so fuel savings/commuting time is next to nothing. I will probably eat out less after the move, but went home or brought lunch frequently, and could have done it easily as much as I wanted. I could show up to work wearing anything I wanted, so that won't change.

I am sure my electricity bill will go up significantly after the switch (I'll have to run the AC most of the day in my room and have a powerful computer with multiple monitors hooked up), which is an issue for me, because I have 2 roommates, it wouldn't be fair to them to have to pay more. But a bigger issue for me than the increased electricity bill are all the things that I will lose. I will now be stuck home alone all day, rather than having the company of coworkers that I get along with, which is a negative both for the loss of some social life as well as a decrease in collaboration which is very valuable to the company and my job. Also, not leaving the house all day is bound to have an effect on my mood and how much I enjoy my job. Not to mention the house that I rent is small and not well suited for working from, I'll be working out of my bedroom all day.

I know it won't be all negative, and I know I'm very lucky to have a good job, but for me it seems like this move is going to cost me more, be less enjoyable, be harder, and save the company loads of money. I may be in the minority on this, but the OP may be in a similar situation where the normal costs/savings and benefits/negatives don't balance out as well as you may think. And it's not particularly fair IMO for me to have to lose money, and lose the benefits of working in an office, while the company makes significantly more.

I am trying to decide what, if anything, I will say to my bosses about this, I love my job, and do feel uncomfortable asking them to pay for my electricity, but as a young person trying to start a savings and make it work in a new city, the loss of a few hundred dollars a month is significant.

Petty, whiny, entitled... If you are unhappy with working from home there's about 100 posters I here that would take your job in a second. Go find another job and spare everyone your immature whining.

[Anonymous]

IMO anyone fortunate enough to work from home should not ask for help with the electric bill.

+ Denver poster could get a small/portable evap cooler which will add next to nothing to your electric bill.

[Anonymous]

Wow! I feel so sorry for this poor person asking to be helped out for the bills that have increased since they started working from home, I work from home, I purchased all my office furniture, they supplied the laptop and cellphone, they don't go in on my internet as we are on an unlimited plan and they want me to use my iphone as a hotspot for internet, but I jut hook it into the home wifi, they do pay for coffee beans and milk when I send them the occasional receipt, they also pay for a storage shed for all my equipment for my job so I don't have to store it a my house and they supply all my stationary etc, Im only at home about 25% of the time so I haven't really seen a rise in bills, but if I did, I would ask them to chip in, they do however pay for all my printer ink (including personal) so I cant be too picky

[Anonymous]

No, they don't. They will pay for work equipment like printer, paper, toner, new keyboard, monitor, etc but not a desk, electricity, toilet paper, etc. I am very happy with the arrangement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! I feel so sorry for this poor person asking to be helped out for the bills that have increased since they started working from home, I work from home, I purchased all my office furniture, they supplied the laptop and cellphone, they don't go in on my internet as we are on an unlimited plan and they want me to use my iphone as a hotspot for internet, but I jut hook it into the home wifi, they do pay for coffee beans and milk when I send them the occasional receipt, they also pay for a storage shed for all my equipment for my job so I don't have to store it a my house and they supply all my stationary etc, Im only at home about 25% of the time so I haven't really seen a rise in bills, but if I did, I would ask them to chip in, they do however pay for all my printer ink (including personal) so I cant be too picky

This thread is almost 2 years old. You felt this need to bump it to say this?