Suppose there are two employees: Alice and Bob, who do the same job at the same factory. Alice has a 10 minute (20RT) commute, Bob commutes 35 minutes(70RT).
If you’re the owner of the factory, would you compensate them for their commutes? How would you do it?
Easy to dump the burden of the commute on the staff as the cost of living close to city centres keeps climbing way faster than you’re raising their pay.
Times change, and the old standards don’t make sense anymore.
I would raise pay before paying for commute.
Statistically speaking, employers don’t.
This is why the UAW are asking for 40% raise, because that would bring their pay back in line with what they were making in 2008 in terms of inflation.
They have the choice of paying for the convenience of living close to work, or spending time commuting. That’s not something an employer will or should care about.
Or the third option, changing to a better employer.
Since everyone seems to think no one wants to work anymore, maybe theres a lot more better options out than than the shitty employers realize.