This year it will cost the average Londoner over £6000 to do their job

Women have more job overheads than men, but it’s worse for new starters
London commuters cross London Bridge
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Liz Connor8 January 2016

If you’re regularly find yourself buying ‘work appropriate’ clothes, topping up your Oyster card and treating yourself to lunch at Pret, but struggle to have spare cash to head on holiday, a new statistic may explain why you’re constantly dipping into your overdraft.

Research has revealed that Londoners spend an average of £6,100 per year just getting to work and buying work-related items, even before they get through the front door of the office or workplace.

The depressing findings also suggest that expenses for female employees tend to be higher than men, simply because that they are expected to have a more diverse wardrobe than their male counterparts.

The average male worker can get through a year at work with a couple of suits, half a dozen shirts and a couple of pairs of shoes, at an average cost of £500. On the other hand, workplace expectations mean that women spend far more on clothing for office work - to the tune of £1,500 a year - despite women often being paid less than male colleagues.

But it’s worse for those who are about to start a new job. The study, by a health and safety law consultancy, found that the hidden cost of working is particularly damaging to new starters, especially if they are coming off benefits, or find themselves in part-time work or on a zero-hours contract.

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Nobody tells you how much you've got to pay out just to get up to speed with your colleagues," says Protecting spokesperson Mark Hall. "but grooming, clothes, food, and – most of all – transport all take money out of your pocket."

The biggest expense faced by workers is transport to work, which can cost up to £5,000 per year in the most extreme cases.

"Commuters into big cities are the hardest hit, with workers paying out hundreds of pounds every month, usually to find themselves standing on a packed peak-hours service, paying peak-hours fares," says Hall.

Not exactly the uplifting news Londoners would like to hear in the first week of January, but thankfully there’s still time to correct the error of your money-spending ways and make 2016 a cheaper year.

Time to start making a packed lunch?

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