A new report shows how much more money people that go into the office spend, in comparison to those who work from home.
Owl Labs has released its annual “State of Hybrid Work” report, where they surveyed 2,000 full-time workers based in the United States who work for a company with at least two or more employees.
In the survey, two-thirds (66%) of employees worked in an office, just over a quarter (27%) had a hybrid work contract, while the remaining 7% were fully remote.
Those numbers have changed significantly from last year, when 41% of respondents were in-office, 25% were hybrid workers, and 34% worked remotely.
The surveyed hybrid workers reported spending $51 every day that they had to work in the office, $36 more than if they were working from home.
The cost of lunch, that amounted to a reported $16 per meal, on average, was the most significant part of that total.
This was followed by costs related to the commute ($14), breakfast and/or coffee ($13), and parking fees ($8).
Almost half of those with a hybrid work arrangement (45%) are on-site three days a week, nearly a quarter have to materialize at the office two days a week (24%), and 7% only have to work on-site one day every week.
More than half of hybrid workers (58%) said that they actively practiced “coffee badging.” This means that they go into the office long enough to have their morning coffee and show their face for a couple of hours before leaving and working elsewhere for the rest of the day.
When the respondents who had a hybrid arrangement or worked fully remotely were asked what they’d want if they were required to be on-site every day, 29% said they would “expect a pay increase to make up for the additional costs” and 28% said that they’d like free or partially subsidized food and beverages to be available at their workplace.
