How Inflation Is Impeding Workers Returning To The Office
Learn how inflation is having a measurably severe impact on employees transitioning to working back in the office.
This article is more than 2 years old
Now that pandemic restrictions have eased more and more companies are expecting their employees to come back and work in the office. However, inflation is putting a major kink in their plans and adversely affecting workers who have newly returned to their once-vacant desks. From rising lunch costs to catastrophic gas prices, going to the office has become less practical than ever.
With a measurable amount of workers finally back at work in person, many are finding that they are spending money on things that they just weren’t when they were working at home. And inflation is making these excess expenditures even more budget-breaking. Kelly Yau McClay told CNN that “Lunchflation is 100% real.” Yau McClay detailed that prior to the onset of the pandemic she was typically able to grab lunch for $12 or less, but now she never finds herself paying below $15. What’s more, is that when she started working from home Yau McClay found that she was easily able to eliminate the impulse expenditures, like coffee and snacks, that go along with a commuting person’s weekly grind. Yau McClay stated that she is dropping upwards of $30 a day on odds and ends. In an inflated market where everything costs more, any extra expense can prove to have an adverse effect on someone’s budget.
Mike Tobin of Orlando, Florida said that gasoline-related expenses have hit him and his family hardest since resuming work in person. “My biggest driving thing is going to the office…everything else is really close to where we live,” Tobin explained via CNN. Thus, his commute is driving his need to fill up his gas tank that much more. With gas prices approaching $6 per gallon across the nation, that is no small pill to swallow.
Since inflation has permeated every single market, the cost of childcare has also skyrocketed. Childcare was expensive pre-pandemic, but now that inflation has a chokehold on that nation rates have reached unfathomable highs. Yau McClay detailed that she is paying nearly $200 more per month in order for her 3-year-old to be cared for while she’s at work.
Even though many families are struggling with the increased costs associated with going back to the office that are being made worse by rampant inflation, some have actually found that they are saving money in some areas. Sara Hill, who is based in Buffalo, New York, explained that returning to the office has helped her overall grocery bill decrease. She found that when her family was home that they were actually eating more and more frequently. Now that they are out and about again, she is seeing a reduction of upwards of $30 in her monthly grocery output. Although, she did admit that the increase in gas prices is negating any would-be benefits to be gleaned from the savings on food.
Ultimately, inflation and commuting to the office are basically akin to the relationship between oil and water. They just don’t mix. Until inflation begins to loosen its grip on the nation, individuals will still have to grapple with the extraordinary expenditures that remote work had been largely shielding them of.
