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The cost of working - 3 January 2007

As the UK stumbles hazily back to work this week, workers in London are faced with an even more pressing reason to seriously consider moving overseas, and even taking their work with them.

Another in the seemingly endless round of fare rises has seen prices of using the public transport network in London rise by up to 33%, leading to the city being branded as the most expensive in the world to get around.

In these days of remote working, it has become easier than ever for employees to base themselves from a satellite or home office and still carry out their job function effectively. Slowly, more employers are also become receptive to the concept, often driven by directors who already have properties overseas or elsewhere in the UK, and who see no reason not to make the most of them.

Meanwhile, their employees are struggling with the idea that a single cash tube journey within the central zone 1 of the network will now cost ₤4, and that fares across much of the rest of the tube network have also risen. In many cases these rises are well above the current rate of inflation, therefore stretching those monthly budgets even further.

The transport companies themselves say that the increases are in place to pay for the extra investment in infrastructure that will be carried out in 2007 to improve the services. This reasoning literally leaves many commuters cold, as they wait on windswept platforms for cancelled and delayed services on trains which have seen better days.

So why not seriously consider the alternatives? A study conducted in 2006 by Thomson Holidays into the predicted travel trends over the next ten years concluded that there will be a huge increase in what they call ‘overseas commuters’ by 2016. This new breed of employees will spend up to three-quarters of their time away from their parent office, with maybe monthly visits back to the UK for internal meetings.

This is a way to make sure that you are getting the most out of your overseas property, and keeps it from being left unoccupied for long periods of time, while making the ‘commute’ to work a good deal more pleasant.

And should you be working for a large multinational company, which has offices in cities across the world, you may have the opportunity to transfer with very little upheaval involved. If this is the case, the prices you could be paying to get to work are a little different.

Consider Barcelona, where a single trip on the underground or bus network will cost just €1.25 and an all day pass is €15. Paris is a similar story, with single trips only €1.40 and a day pass €24. Even in New York City, possibly the closest equivalent to London in terms of business importance, it is cheaper to get to and from your offices – single journeys cost $2 each, while a 24-hour pass is just $7. Without doubt the cheapest major city to relocate to is Athens, where the metro tickets only cost €0.80 per journey, or €3 all day long.

You may also find that moving overseas will lighten your tax burden. If you are planning to spend most of your time in a property abroad, make sure you take the advice of an independent and qualified tax specialist. This should ensure that whilst you remain covered from a legal point of view, you are not overpaying taxes in more than one country without being liable.