Gross salary is the number on the offer letter. True net income is what you actually keep. The gap between the two grows substantially once you factor in commuting, and it grows in ways that are not obvious until you run the maths.
Consider a €65,000 hybrid role in Dublin requiring three days per week in the office, versus a €58,000 fully remote role. The hybrid role pays €7,000 more, a meaningful difference on paper. But after Irish income tax, USC, and PRSI, the net salary difference narrows to around €4,100. Add a typical Dublin commute (Leap card, 60-minute round trip, buying lunch) and the hybrid role's advantage shrinks to roughly €500 per year. Add the time cost of 276 annual commuting hours and the remote role wins outright.
The same logic applies in the UK. A £60,000 hybrid role versus a £54,000 remote role looks like a £6,000 advantage. After HMRC deductions, that is approximately £3,600 net. A three-day London commute on a monthly Travelcard, two stops plus a coffee each way, and a standard professional wardrobe budget can consume £4,000 to £5,000 per year in direct costs alone, before the time cost is counted.