Lifestyle Impact

A perfect remote setup scores 80 here, because the weights only add up to 0.8

Flexibility and productivity carry 0.3 each, isolation 0.2 — a total of 0.8. Rate yourself at the maximum on all three and the score is 80, not 100. There is no combination of answers that reaches the top, so read the number as a position on a 0–80 scale rather than a percentage.

How it works

• Combines flexibility, productivity and isolation into one score, inverting isolation so that less is better.
• Converts a daily commute into hours reclaimed over a full year.
• Puts a value on those hours so the time saving can be compared with money.

score = (flexibility × 0.3 + productivity × 0.3 + (10 − isolation) × 0.2) × 10
hours saved = daily commute hours × 52 × 2
value = hours saved × 50

Worked example

One hour of commuting each way, flexibility 7, productivity 8, isolation 4.

1. score = (7 × 0.3 + 8 × 0.3 + 6 × 0.2) × 10 = 57
2. hours saved = 1 × 52 × 2 = 104 hours a year
3. 104 hours is 2.6 working weeks, or 4.3 whole days
4. value = 104 × 50 = 5,200
5. the best attainable score is 80, from flexibility 10, productivity 10, isolation 0

Fifty-seven out of a possible eighty, and 2.6 working weeks a year handed back. The time figure is usually the more persuasive of the two.

Reading the result

• The hours calculation assumes you commute every working week of the year, which overstates it by the length of your leave. Multiply by 46 or 47 instead of 52 if you want the honest number — at one hour each way that is about 92 hours rather than 104.
• The hourly value is a placeholder you should replace. Commuting time is not worth the same as working time to most people, and the right figure is somewhere between nothing and your hourly rate depending on whether you can read, rest or work on the way.
• Isolation is the input people underrate at the start and overrate later. It tends to build over months rather than appear immediately, so a score taken in the first weeks of remote work is measuring the honeymoon.
• Nothing here captures the costs that move the other way: heating and electricity at home, a worse chair, and the career effect of being less visible than colleagues who are in the room.

Common questions

Why can't I score 100?

Because the three weights sum to 0.8 rather than 1. A perfect rating on every input gives 80, so the scale effectively runs from 0 to 80 and any comparison should be made against that ceiling.

Is 104 hours a year realistic for a one-hour commute?

It is the arithmetic for 52 weeks, so it is the optimistic end. Subtract your annual leave and public holidays and a one-hour-each-way commute reclaims closer to 92 hours — still more than two working weeks.