DETROIT (WXYZ) — Working from home is a hot topic. Many love it, others hate it, but would you be willing to give up some of your paycheck in exchange to be able to work from home?
I wanted to find out how much metro Detroiters would be willing to give up.
"I don't know if I would be willing to give anything up," said Detroiter Neal Swagner.
"I think flexibility is an important thing but I don't think it's worth a 20 percent pay cut," said Detroiter Natalie Bond.
Working remotely or having a hybrid work schedule has become the norm in this post-pandemic world of 2025. Many workers now value work-life balance and flexibility.
A new study from Harvard Business School says 40 percent of workers would take a five percent pay cut to work from home, and study also found that nearly 10 percent of people they spoke are willing to take up a 20 percent pay cut if they didn't have to work in the office.
"20 percent is too much of a pay cut it's unfair to workers frankly," Natalie said.
Some were open to the idea of it, but others? Not a chance.
"If I had less to do then possibly," said Andres Argulla. "But it would have to have flexibility to work at different places at the same time."
"Flexibility is a fringe benefit. It's really hard to say," Neal said.
Shannon Edlinger with Robert Half staff recruiters in Detroit says this signals a significant shift in workplace culture and expectations from workers, and she says that companies need to adapt.
"We are seeing remote work less available and relevant but hybrid work is what employees are looking for," Shannon said. "They're really having to switch around their culture for these folks because they just know that they're going to have the hybrid if they want the best talent."
The Harvard Business School study comes at a time when the Trump administration has ordered all federal employees back to the office. The research also found that women are more willing to give up 20 percent of their salary to work from home than men.
"I am a stay-at-home person. But I wouldn't stay at home for a 20 percent pay cut," Natalie said.
As remote work becomes a fixture in our professional lives, understading its impact on compensation will be crucial for both employees and employers.
"I don't think it necessarily warrant less salary especially when the company saving on what can be expensive office space," Neal said
