Commuters moving further out and salaries changing as a result of Covid 19?

[387star]

I was thinking if commuters may start moving to say Chichester if commuting one or two days a week to London if working mostly from home in the future. If needing to commute infrequently perhaps the long commute (90 mins in this case ) become more variable

However what affect on London weighted salaries? I guess high skilled jobs that tend to be found in London will continue to be well paid but what about allowances if mostly home working?

 

[Chester1]

I was thinking if commuters may start moving to say Chichester if commuting one or two days a week to London if working mostly from home in the future. If needing to commute infrequently perhaps the long commute (90 mins in this case ) become more variable

However what affect on London weighted salaries? I guess high skilled jobs that tend to be found in London will continue to be well paid but what about allowances if mostly home working?

I doubt London allowances will go. Its a recipe for staff agro and would reduce recruitment options in the long term. It's more likely employers will set new rules on home working and let people make their own choice about were to live and whether to apply for a job. The high cost of London office space will provide an incentive to maximise homeworking. Its absurd that many employers in Central London pay lower grade staff less than their desk costs!

It wouldn't take too many ticketing changes to start making Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds or Sheffield weekly commutes to London viable for a sizeable proportion of middle earners. 4 nights in a hotel and 4 off peak open returns from Manchester currently costs about £650. Combined with HS2 and the excess capacity it will create the labour market may change considerably.

 

[DelayRepay]

I doubt London allowances will go. Its a recipe for staff agro and would reduce recruitment options in the long term. It's more likely employers will set new rules on home working and let people make their own choice about were to live and whether to apply for a job. The high cost of London office space will provide an incentive to maximise homeworking. Its absurd that many employers in Central London pay lower grade staff less than their desk costs!

It is already causing agro though. I have colleagues on the same band as me, who do very similar jobs, but are paid £4,000 per annum more than me because they are based in London. One of them lives a couple of miles from me and it is likely that they will actually work from my office when we return. So £4k extra because they notionally have a desk in London.

If, as looks likely, they will only go to the office once a week, why do they need an extra £4k per year?

I think it would cause agro to take the allowance away from those who already have it, but I can see it disappearing for new hires.

I don't think London allowances will go for jobs like retail where you have to physically be in London, but can't see office workers keeping them.

Maybe they will be replaced by a home working allowance to cover extra costs and compensate workers for loss of part of their home?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Madness
People move much further away, go to work less often, but travel further in total

 

[DelayRepay]

People move much further away, go to work less often, but travel further in total

That's not just London though. I moved to where I live now because of work. I am 150 miles from 'home' and a ten minute drive from the office.

If I was told that I was only required to attend work in person once a week, I would move back 'home'. Even though I'd be travelling further in total, a long journey once a week is worth it for the benefits of being closer to family and close friends.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Madness
People move much further away, go to work less often, but travel further in total

I guess the point is whether they will travel further in total. As an example, one of my friends had been mulling over a move from Somerset to Cornwall as his wife has always wanted to live down there. The stamp duty holiday has prompted him to act.

He traditionally had a role where he was in the office 3 days a week requiring a 50 mile round trip. He's now moving to Cornwall (near Saltash) so some distance away from his Wiltshire office but reckons if he only has to do that once a fortnight with WFH and Zoom calls, then he's about parity.

I wouldn't do it but for him, it works.

 

[Ianno87]

I guess the point is whether they will travel further in total. As an example, one of my friends had been mulling over a move from Somerset to Cornwall as his wife has always wanted to live down there. The stamp duty holiday has prompted him to act.

He traditionally had a role where he was in the office 3 days a week requiring a 50 mile round trip. He's now moving to Cornwall (near Saltash) so some distance away from his Wiltshire office but reckons if he only has to do that once a fortnight with WFH and Zoom calls, then he's about parity.

I wouldn't do it but for him, it works.

Might be further in total, but less time travelling (e.g. factoring in walking to the station, generally on faster intercity services etc.), and also making much more productive use of the travelling time (i.e. you can get more work done on one 60 minute journey than 6 x 10 minute journeys).

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Stamp duty, moving to save money? Does not help people who have to live in Kernow, Gwynedd and elsewhere, working in care homes and the like for a modest wage
Property price prices are going up again. Used to be just the Home Coumties

 

[Ianno87]

Stamp duty, moving to save money? Does not help people who have to live in Kernow, Gwynedd and elsewhere, working in care homes and the like for a modest wage
Property price prices are going up again. Used to be just the Home Coumties

But then people working in care homes in areas like London benefit from reduced pressure on house prices etc. there.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Stamp duty, moving to save money? Does not help people who have to live in Kernow, Gwynedd and elsewhere, working in care homes and the like for a modest wage
Property price prices are going up again. Used to be just the Home Coumties

Care is a problem anyway. We can't keep paying hard working professionals (which is what they are) minimum wage - they should at least be getting what an NHS nurse gets, and even that is too low in my view for what they do.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Stamp duty, moving to save money? Does not help people who have to live in Kernow, Gwynedd and elsewhere, working in care homes and the like for a modest wage
Property price prices are going up again. Used to be just the Home Coumties

As I said, he'd been mulling it over... the Stamp Duty holiday just accelerated it.

A friend of mine was posted to RAF High Wycombe and remember (as we wandered around Marlow one lunchtime) looking at the house prices (probably 2000/1) and I asked where do the nurses, postmen, binmen who provide those services around there live..... he said Wycombe or Slough.

Levelling out the disparities of housing is perhaps too much for this thread, but I do know where you're coming from.

 

[S&CLER]

Care is a problem anyway. We can't keep paying hard working professionals (which is what they are) minimum wage - they should at least be getting what an NHS nurse gets, and even that is too low in my view for what they do.

I agree entirely, having had indirect experience of five care homes where my friend has been over the last 12 years (most recently, until March, at Asmall Hall, near your home town of Ormskirk). But that can realistically only be done if the whole system of financing care for those who (may) need it is reformed. I know from my friend's wife what 12 years in care can do to your savings. No party has yet come up with a workable scheme that can be put to the public for their approval at an election. Just raising salaries, though much to be desired, would only precipitate a financing crisis. An incidental benefit of better pay for carers would be a desirable reduction in agency working and more stability of staff in any given home. But this is getting off-topic.