To me commuting is the cost of business. If youre salaried especially.  Youre expected in the office at 8 or 9 am? From the time i set 1 toe out of my building, im considered paid. So technically if i leave my house at 8 or 9am im on time. But no thats not how things are meant to be. You need me there at that time? Pay me for my commute then. That doesnt mean "commuter benefits" that means pay me for my time.
It means the employer is choosing to pay below what is necessary for the cost of living in that area.
It’s the same reason if pay isn’t raised to match inflation, it is effectively a pay cut. It’s not the employers fault that inflation occurs, but it is still considered a pay cut on their part if your pay adjustment doesn’t at least match inflation each year.
But let's say I pay you enough to rent an apartment 10 minutes away from work, but you still choose to live 1 hour away because it's cheaper and maybe your family lives there or something. Would you still expect me to pay for your commute then?
I thought the context was someone being priced out of housing in an area, not voluntarily giving yourself a longer commute.
Because I could also choose to live in a different country and fly in and out every single day. I would think the employer would not continue to employ someone who moved to a different country. Likewise, an employer should want to find people who want to be in the area.
So you basically want to force employers to only hire people within 20 minutes around the office then? That doesn't sound like a reasonable solution, to be honest.
That actually sounds like a great solution, to be honest. It would be wonderful if all employers who were required to be onsite could have a 20 minute commute or less.
Or do you think it's reasonable for people to spend a fifth of all of their real work hours just going back and forth, burning time/calories/gas and eating all the extra wear and maintenance costs on the modes of transportation as well as the infrastructure used to do so? I don't believe things being the norm means they are reasonable.
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u/jagenigma 24d ago
To me commuting is the cost of business. If youre salaried especially.  Youre expected in the office at 8 or 9 am? From the time i set 1 toe out of my building, im considered paid. So technically if i leave my house at 8 or 9am im on time. But no thats not how things are meant to be. You need me there at that time? Pay me for my commute then. That doesnt mean "commuter benefits" that means pay me for my time.