Being made to work an extra 20 minutes unpaid a day

[GettingTiredNow]

I work in the admin base of the local NHS health authority, there are about 100 of us in our offices and nowhere near that number of car parking spaces. We double park which is ok but as more people have joined the organisation recently even that is not enough on some days. The powers that be have rented 10 additional spaces at the railway station down the road about a 10 minute walk away.

These 10 parking spaces have been allocated randomly to staff on a rota, each directorate is doing its own thing so you can end up with either a week there every 6 months or 3 months there as a one off. And I'm 1 of the lucky 10 who have been blessed with a pass

Us lucky 10 have been told that the time it takes us to travel back and forth to the car park needs to come out of our time and not the organisations. If we are late we need to email our boss with an expanation of how the time will be made back up.

I need to take my DC to school in the morning and the afternoon which fits within my working hours but a trip back and forth to the car park means I'm going to be early to school in the morning and late to pick up in the afternoon to ensure I'm at work for my contracted time.

AIBU to expect that as I am effectively helping the organisation out by walking down to the car park this shouldn't come out of my time?

Are you taking the piss?

How many clincal staff do you think are working an extra 20 minutes, half an hour, an hour or more on a regular basis for no extra pay? Most of them are!

Jesus wept! The world's gone frigging mad!

Please do not talk to your manager about this. I am a line manager and if any of my team spoke to me about this I would tell them to get a grip

So one of your staff members asks you for an adjustment due to caring responsibilities and you tell them to 'get a grip'?

I'd suggest you review your way of 'managing' your staff before you get a grievance or complaint put in tbh...which would be the first thing i'd do if my manager told me to get a grip rather than considering a reasonable adjustment request.

since Op has accepted she's BU (which I agree, she is), perhaps we should cut her some slack? I'm guessing the Op isn't making the sort of money consultants make, Laurie (I used to be one) so although I'd have issue with anyone complaining about working a whole extra 20 mins a day on a short term basis for any reason, I can understand why it's annoying.

Thanks for that feedback Someday. I'm an HR manager so pretty clear on that stuff but I will bear it in mind.

The OP isn't asking for a reasonable adjustment. She's moaning she has to walk further from her car.

Problem is the way she phrased it though. All this stuff about being made to work extra, which she is not.

If she'd come on and said "this is the situation, it's going to be difficult for me, does anyone have any suggestions", the responses would have been vastly different.

The answer to childcare is: arrange appropriate childcare.

That was to MunchCrunch

The change her employer has foisted on her will leave her unable to pick up her dc ontime - ie unable to meet her caring responsibilities.

It seems odd to me that as an HR manager you'd still find it appropriate to tell employees that approach you with queries to 'get a grip' tbh. But there you go...just a good job you've never been so dismissive of the wrong person so far I imagine

Op what have your union said about this?

I have neighbours who have a similar situation but my neighbour has a fold out bike to ride the extra distance. The NHS rent some supermarket car parking spaces and neighbour always parks there.

If every member of staff takes their turn and each turn us equal then I can't see that there would be any issue. It isn't fair though if some have a few days and others linger.

Have the management asked if anyone wants to volunteer to park at the station? For me it would be a bonus to have the walk each way and a pass to permanently park their would bother me ( I have no childcare issues and enjoy the walk after work to wind down) you may find others that this situation would also suit. Therefore could you ask? Or enquire with the union if this has been done?

true, i agree, i came onto the thread thinking it was really going to be someone complaining about working a whole extra 20 minutes a day! It's hard to see outside your own problems though.

Op I completely understand where you are coming from. I have been in a similar situation with proposed change to off-site car park / finely balanced working hours to enable school drop off and pick up (I was lucky and got an on-site space). It is absolutely not the provision of parking that is the problem, but a change which means that you are not going to be able to fit the school run around your previously agreed working hours. I think your thread title was probably badly phrased.

I am a line manager and totally disagree with the pp who said don't raise it with them, they won't give a shit or they will think you are an incapable whinger. I would absolutely want to know if any of my team were facing a disruption which would make it harder for them to get to work and, if it was appropriate, I would discuss possible changes to working hours etc so that they could get to work on time. This would apply equally to someone whose bus route had been cancelled as to someone with childcare problems.

That's wouldn't bother me, not would

I live and work in London where it takes a minimum of an hour to get anywhere. Tell you what OP, next time I get a job I'll rock up at 10 and leave at 4 while insisting upon being paid for 9-5 anyway.

What a ridiculous post. You can't be serious, surely.

Is there really a need to dole out biscuits when OP has accepted she if BU and will 'suck it up'?

I travel to different sites during the week. There's a free car park at site A. I park at Tesco when I visit site B. At site C in the city centre there is no on site parking and nearby car parking is too pricey to claim on expenses. I have to leave the car at site A, get the bus to site C and reverse the process at the end of the day. Yesterday the process added over an hour to my working day. I didn't expect to leave an hour early to accommodate it.

I think the answer is a trade.

Look around for someone wearnga Fitbit they might fancy a chance to up their step count.

OP most large NHS-organisations now charge staff to park onsite, where I work its. Minimum of £1 per day but is on a sliding scale so if you earn more than NMW you pay more. And there is no guarantee of a space for your money!!
You are lucky!

I am a line manager and totally disagree with the pp who said don't raise it with them, they won't give a shit or they will think you are an incapable whinger. I would absolutely want to know if any of my team were facing a disruption which would make it harder for them to get to work and, if it was appropriate, I would discuss possible changes...

THIS...as any decent people manager should.

Why am I not surprised this thread was started by a public sector worker?!

:o

Ilovesooty are you being paid for your traveling time in between getting from one job to another? Wasn't there a case recently that employers weren't allowed to do this any longer?

Hi OP, I totally understand your frustration at this, my life too is a fine balancing act especially with kids pick up times etc.
The only solution could be as someone has said to ask for a shorter lunch break so you can arrive/leave on time or ask to be swapped back to the original car park? You really need to speak to your boss and let them know the problems this is causing you, I know my boss would certainly try and resolve this and wouldn't be telling me to get a grip.

hmmmmm, I can see both sides.

I've done the finely timed school & daycare drop offs and pick ups that only just fit around the working day, so I can see the extra 20 minutes is a pain and may make the whole house of cards collapse - it's not unpaid overtime though, is it, and no manager will accept that as an argument.

I also used to work for the NHS and parking for staff at many sites is a night mare, or was in my time - oh yes, they'll give you a pass, lucky you - but they'll give 9 million passes for 57 spaces so the reality is you often can't park unless you work early or late hours. You are often not allowed to park in the public car parks even if you pay, and the roads near lots of hospitals are resident parking only, quite understandably. I often couldn't park onsite, parked miles away and walked in, got in trouble for being late, and had a long walk back to my car in the dark in dodgy areas if I was working out of hours.

Depending on the nature of OP's work, whether it's patient care, clerical etc, maybe discussing the problem with management and negotiating early start/ shorter lunch to allow an early finish may work? It may annoy colleagues though to see OP leaving early.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34217549 here ilovesooty

I agree OP, your organisation are being unfair. I'm a senior manager for a global organisation, if myself or any of my staff were put in this position I'd allow adequate walking time. It's not your fault there isn't enough parking. X