AIBU to think if your boss wants you in the office, they should help pay to get you there?

Sort of an aside. I agree with pp about train travel. More trains and cheaper journeys would massively improve people's lives.

My thoughts exactly!
This wfh has rewired a lot of peoples brains re normality and entitlement.

I cannot imagine that Barclays workers don’t have contracts specifying an office-based place of work or a place of work as agreed by line manager. People are surely beholden to their contracts. Employers have not historically paid commute costs.

Funny no one suggested their pay was cut when they started to work from home,

Travel costs have always been the employees responsibility these entitled workers are having a laugh unless the office have moved further away then no it’s not employers responsibility. Anyone who thinks it is are delusional. Any excuse to work from home.

Why would your company be responsible for your travel costs to work?

If I break down and my car doesn't work should my boss pay for my taxi to and from every job I need to get to?

No, I don't think anyone reasonable would believe they are entitled to travel costs to and from work outside of the obvious, ie mileage - you need to work in an office 3 hours away to cover, we will pay for your time etc.

Why take a job you can't get to when needed by public transport / bike / car / walking.

People take jobs knowing the commute is an hour or so, I don't think most people factor in the hour getting to work / back home as 'i should be paid for this'

Commuting costs for hybrid workers are taxable. https://www.att.org.uk/employers/welcome-employer-focus/commuting-costs-hybrid-workers

This. But also is it not classed as an assumed change to your role if you’ve been wfh for a sustained period of time (change to contract due to actions and acceptance by employers and employees)? Unless the bank was regularly saying that offering home working was just a temporary thing (my last employer did this - law firm - and kept reminding us every six to eight weeks, so that they could eventually force us back five days a week). So I moved somewhere where it’s only 3 days a week we need to be in, and they’re actually very flexible and will permit more wfh on a basis if it’s needed.

It depends what it says in their contract.

It depends really. I’ve been with my employer since pre-Covid so the expectation was five days in the office. It would have been reasonable now that we go to the office three times a week that I should feel happy about it. However my employer closed the original office and moved bang in the middle of central London so my commuting costs are now much higher for the three days in the office compared to my previous 5 days in the office. No help was offered and if they ask us to go back full time I would be looking for a job elsewhere due to commuting costs and length of commute.

People are already starting to loose their jobs to AI. Demanding employers pay commuting costs is presumably just going to serve to make AI even more attractive than real life whining employees and incentivise employers to speed up AI adoption.

I work for a company that has made us go in 3 times a week instead of 2. We’re quite a large company with offices all over the UK and the commuting challenge is that London weighting was stopped so now the people in London get paid the same as the people in Birmingham - even though the people in Birmingham can drive into work and park for free (albeit petrol does cost), and in London we either pay £800k for a house or live somewhere cheaper and pay £50 a day.

I understand what people are saying. Wages haven't risen in line with costs, and commuting can cost a lot.

This is a really good point actually - we all make a decision about commute time and cost vs housing area costs and desirability. It's not necessarily the main factor for some people, but for others it is

This isn’t true. It can be a business expense and can be tax exempt for the employer.

No they can use the money they are not spending on heating and electricity at home to pay the fare - swings and roundabouts

Depends on your contract. Mine says I work from home, so if I am asked to attend a meeting in the office (fifty miles away) I can claim my train fare and my travel time counts as working time.

My company merged so when I go to the other office I can claim for mileage. If they’ve been working from home, it sounds like a change of terms and conditions.

It’s the cost of having an office-based job. If people don’t like that, they can choose jobs that pay more or that allow more WFH days. Employers competing for the best talent will offer it.

AI is coming for your jobs.

The organisation I work for has asked us to go back 3 days a week. During the time I worked there they have got rid of bonuses and changed our pay and conditions. And they want us to go back for collaboration which is rubbish as we sit there on another call at our desks. We have had a real time pay cut so I don’t blame those workers for wanting to be compensated.

Plenty of others will apply for the jobs if they're sacked for not meeting teams of their contracts.

Both things can be true: more office days is effectively a pay cut, and travelling to work is the employee's cost to cover. Assuming that the employment contract entitled the employer to require more office days then there's no obligation on them to provide additional compensation for this. But some employees may decide that the extra costs mean that the job is no longer financially viable for them and look for work elsewhere. The employer has to weigh up whether it's better to let those employees go, and face the costs of recruitment to replace them, or whether it's actually more beneficial to the business to pay them more/ keep the office day requirement as it was.

I am in the office full time but the majority of my colleagues are not. The nature of my job means I need to be in 5 days, but others don't. I don't mind that they save on the cost currently, but would mind them being paid to commute in a few extra days when I get no contribution to it.

I don't think it is unreasonable to be in the office 3 days out of 5 and I think it is reasonable to pay your own commute as has always been the norm.

People have got too comfortable about working from home, if your commute is too expensive move back closer to the office. I always had an expensive commute my choice my problem, my employer would have laughed if I said I wanted them to pay.