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

Oh yeah and the nurses want to be paid to get in to work too! Why should they not get their fares payed too? Seriously this working from home takes the piss.

yes! It is unbelievable to most of us but sadly I can quote many examples of frankly ridiculous requests we’ve had over the last couple of years. People thinking it’s ok to work bouncing their baby or toddler in their knees 7 hours a day, refusing to attend meetings or deliver training because they have children at home to look after….

Currently we have someone working for us for 12 weeks work experience to get back into the job market, we’ve planned his work, moved things around and arranged for him to shadow the team to get lots of experience. Then, in week two he emailed the boss and told her ( not asking !), that he’d be working from home for 2 days from now on. There’s no other word for it except a crazy sense of entitlement and a complete lack of understanding about the world of work.

I get free travel through my work. When I’ve been looking at other jobs I’ve had to factor in the cost of a bus/rail pass as that £100 a month makes a difference!

Why does working from home take the piss? Interested in specific reasons you have.

Covid got me my a life I’d not had fro years. I’d been getting up well before 6 each day and commuting 3 hours a day. That changed and I got a decent amount of sleep and worked a solid 8-9 hours a day as needed. No interruptions or talking around me. If we need to discuss something then there’s a Teams message asking if now is a good time? Plus calls are private.

And when we’re back in the office, everyone remembers why open plan is such a bad idea.

As it does for all!

It would be taxed anyhiw. And employers would have to put costs up and would pass on to consume. Leading to inflation. Should teachers be paid to go to work?And doctors?And road,sweepwrs?.
Unaffordable. Massive inflation

That's normal for many, long commutes and early starts!

Now that we have proven the home office is a valid work location (comes with a health and safety checklist...) then it should be treated the same as any other request by an employer to work temporarily in an alternative location - they pay all travel expenses and your hourly rate for the time spent travelling.

It's unacceptable to force people to pay money they don't have, and to lose hours of their lives to an unnecessary commute, when we made historical progress in the workplace environment following a catastrophic event.

It would be like trying to dismantle the NHS and force people to bankrupt themselves every time they needed an ambulance.. just because "we used to make you do this".. okay, but we need to keep moving forward and keep making positive change.

I’m from another country and most employers do pay for commuting, even before COVID/wfh.

You either get a season rail card or fixed fuel costs reimbursed.

In the UK everyone is conditioned to think that it’s all normal to oay for this yourself, but there is another way people!

Of course. Did you think I was claiming that I was some sort of exception? That’s the whole point!

No, people who don't have a legitimate place of work in their homes, don't have to be paid to go to work because they're not travelling from a valid work location to a different work location. Though maybe travel hours should be paid for everyone. But that's a separate issue.

Thing is, thing is… people have always had to pay to get to work. Just as you pay to get anywhere else.

And then you see, people who live further from their work often live in cheaper areas, and so more than save the money back that way. If people want lower commuting costs (and time), they live in more expensive areas (usually).

So I think it’s a bit much for people to move further from their work, or apply for better paid jobs far from their home and then complain about the travel costs!

If you have a contract which says home is your workplace, then yes, you can claim for travel expenses. But if wfh is an unofficial perk, then no way they could or should pay.

Completely depends on the contract.

Work from home, or 1 or 2 days in the office but company wants to change to more, they should be looking at pay rises to compensate for the change in arrangement. But no wfh, or asking for office days in line with the contract, the employees have to suck it up.

I do think there should be good reasons for changing the arrangements though. Work that can only be done in the office, or face to face meetings required. Possibly mentoring junior staff. Pulling people into the office more, only to sit on Teams all day is a waste of time and will massively reduce morale.

This. We need to look outside our own conditioning.

We need the government to step in and get rid of this bullshit "perk" clause. There's something called an "implied term" of your contract. WFH has been a thing for 6 years now. We just need the government to blanket enforce the home office to be your official place of work if that's where you work the majority of the time. Then, if employers still insist on you travelling to a different location, they can pay for it. And watch how many suddenly decide it isn't actually necessary (!)

I would think most jobs who employed people after the pandemic was careful to put in a clause to get you into the office if necessary.
It has been a really positive life change.

I don't work for the company mentioned but my company are having similar discussions with the Union.

The issue is the massive increase in fuel costs and commuting costs that everyone is facing (not just home workers) but this discussion is about home workers, so others that can't WFH are welcome to discuss commuting costs with their own employers instead of saying 'we deal with it, so should you'. It's not a race to the bottom.

Back to my point.

We have been allowed to WFH on hybrid contracts since the pandemic, we are now being told to return to the office more. The issue is train tickets, bus travel and fuel costs have almost more than doubled since hybrid working was introduced. Not to mention most of our UK offices have downsized since the start of the pandemic, so there's no where for us to sit even if we wanted to be in the office more.

The rise in fuel/commuting costs means workers are left out of pocket for what used to be an affordable commute. One that would have been factored in when accepting the job, Meaning it's no longer affordable for the majority of our workers. Why would we want to spend more on commuting when we can easily do the same work from home? Especially when pay rises have been stagnant for years and bonuses are a thing of the past.

I think the government needs to step in and do something for everyone regarding fuel and commuting costs. Energy companies are announcing record breaking profits while the average person is being bled dry with the COL.

We should ALL be asking our employers to do more to help with commuting costs, not knocking down those that dare to ask for support for a situation that would otherwise leave them so much worse off. Especially when it makes no difference to the company but makes a huge difference to employees well-being.

I was chatting to a friend who is a manager. They’ve had a few staff ask to work from home - especially the week before pay day- because they can’t afford to get to work.

Said the government employee

Nurses could get a job working from home too? Obvs a different career but they are free to choose.

They gave probably never worked from home themselves and have zero experience.

Maybe they are bitter and envious thinking we get away without doing any work at all.

I was shocked to hear my Dutch colleagues say this too, they get their public transport costs to and from work reimbursed. I think it is a gov thing rather than employer specific. There is another way!

Totally agree with this! Depends on the situation when you were hired.