What we found
- $200K in the office against $150K fully remote leaves a gap of about $30K after tax, before transport, parking, lunches and work clothes.
- An hour each way adds up to about 460 hours a year, roughly 12 extra working weeks spent commuting.
- A higher income can cut your childcare subsidy.
- 40% of fully remote workers in our latest survey have been at the same level for three years or more, against 22% of full-time office workers.
- In our Instagram poll, 51% chose $150K fully remote and 49% chose $200K in the office.
$200K to be in the office full time, or $150K to be fully remote?
After tax, the gap between the two options is about $30K, and that’s before you’ve paid for transport fares or fuel, parking, lunches and work clothes. Then there’s the commute itself. An hour each way adds up to about 460 hours a year, which is roughly 12 extra working weeks spent getting to and from the office, so a big part of that $50K is really just paying you for the travel. If you’ve got kids it hurts a little more, because a higher income cuts your childcare subsidy, and you’re also giving up the daycare drop off and the school pick up.
Fully remote comes with its own problems. But the people who thrive working at home, usually have rich lives outside of work, their social battery doesn’t need the office for social interaction or the time saved from commuting goes towards a more balanced lifestyle. For a lot of people, the reality is an empty house, zero boundaries between work and home, and a workday that blends well into the night.
As much as everyone hates to say it, optics matter. Our latest survey data shows that 40% of fully remote workers have been stuck at the same level for three years or more, compared to just 22% of full-time office workers. Whether those WFH full time want career progression or not, proximity bias is real. The best projects and promotions will likely go to the people who put in the face time. And when redundancies roll around, it is brutally easy for management to cut a name on a screen instead of someone they know of.
Depending on where you are in your career, remote work is completely fine, especially if you’re raising kids or focusing on a side hustle. Flexibility has just become a currency and a work perk. Employers know that skipping a commute or getting an extra day off is worth real money to you, and with any trade, they’ll just price your salary and trajectory accordingly.
How did our poll vote?
We asked on Instagram which job people would take.
What did TAC readers tell us?
We asked which job you would take, and why. Here is what some of you said.
If you have 2 kids in long daycare 5 days a week, your subsidy will go down 10% for child 1 and 16% for child 2. Run some very rough numbers and you’re paying an additional 14k per year in childcare for the higher salary. Plus the cost of public transport 5 days a week, you’re looking at around $45 a day extra in your pocket. I would rather sacrifice $45 a day for the flexibility of wfh.
$36k better off after tax with $200k. I think money dictates especially in this climate
One day a week in office and would take a significant pay rise to get me to move to a role that was more days in office. Have a toddler at home and love getting that extra time in the morning to spend with them before the work day starts. And also get to do day care drop offs for days they go.
Full time remote sucks. It’s lonely, I don’t take lunch because what am I going to do, just sit there in silence? and I find myself working until my housemate comes home at 6 because I’ve lost track of time
50k to stay at home is obscene. It’s compounding across your career too in terms of exposure and opportunity.
I work FT remote for a Melb finance company and have done since 2023. The vibe has shifted. There used to be a conscious effort to include remote employees, now it gets talked about like a negative - despite consistent high performance I think I'll be the one to go in the redundancies that are coming just because they'll prioritise office attendance over output.
Pretty good, works well for my life but I’m confident that I’m sacrificing career advancement and more money for this which is less of a focus for me personally atm. Whether its good thing or not really depends on what your priorities are
Source: The Aussie Corporate reader poll and replies, October 2026. Spotted an error? Correct something.
