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?
I know… lol I’m not trying to say it’s any better. Wealthier countries don’t see the point in compensating this way, because the expense in the grand scheme of things is just petty change for the workers.
But if it was necessary, then it’s not too bad a system, which is what OP was after.