That replying to work emails on the train IS working?

[managedmis]

Jury seems to be out on this one at work so thought I'd ask on her.

I commute 2 hours per day to get to work, an hour there and back. I have my work email on my phone and reply /send emails when I'm on the train. Note that my role is admin based, so always loads of emails to respond to etc.

I consider that this is work.

What do you think?

Commuting time is not working time. It’s your choice to answer emails on your commute.

You’re working, but it isn’t part of your working day. I don’t think you can claim it as working hours, but if you’re being productive, that should at least be acknowledged, and perhaps be reflected with some flexibility if circumstances allow.

If there’s a problem around flexibility, stop working during your commute and do everything while you’re in the office. I appreciate that this might make your working day busier, but if the commute is seen as personal time, use it for your benefit, not your employer’s.

Commuting - not working
Working on work emails - working

Simple surely....

I bill time spent working on the train, but I deduct about 25% for being less efficient as well as whatever time I've spent roaming between tubes / daydreaming etc. If I'm on conference calls while walking between places then I charge the full time. I've never been questioned on my time by a client, so I presume they would approve, but then they wouldn't monitor to that extent. I certainly approve a plenty of time out of the office as working time when my team members are working out and about or at home; if they get a lot done then I wouldn't query, but if they're not achieving much then I'd ask for more specifics (and probably move them to working just in the office / just move them on if they liked to piss-take). If your employer wants you to be efficient then they might be comfortable with you charging a proportion of your travel time for email, if not then leave the email until you get to work. Presumably it suits you to use the dead time, so it's in your interests to try and get them to see the positives with a compromise rather than get into an argument.

It would depends on the context of the discussion and why you need it defining.

If it claiming over time then no
If it's saying you go over and above then yes

If it's not counted as working, stop doing it. Simple. I used to have to do 4 and 5 hour train journeys for work and we were expected to work on projects etc. Trouble was, with a full-size laptop in standard class and those tiny tables and sloping seatbacks, you can't get the thing open enough to see the screen!

I was salaried anyway, so phtttt!

My manager is happy for me to continue working on the train home as part of my working day on the odd occasion I need to leave early for childcare logistics. One of my colleagues works on the train to and from work as part of his working day. We look at it as best use of time and working flexibly.

I think it's fine so long as it's meaningful work - if I replied to the odd quick email I wouldn't count it but we tend to save up suitable stuff to do on the commute eg longer emails that need more thought/construction or high volume of quick emails to respond to.

Is there a bit of one-upmanship going on at work? Someone has said that they are working really hard, THEY are having to get in an hour early, they’re so BUSY. Then the OP said Well I answer emails on my commute. Then the first person says Oh, that isn’t really WORK.

Have your work told you that you must answer emails on your way in? Or are you choosing to do it? If you genuinely need to do this or risk running out of time to spend on other things during your working day, you should raise this with your manager, as they need to realise that your workload doesn’t fit into your paid hours.
I don’t think you can just choose to do this unilaterally and then expect to be paid overtime/claim TOIL/long lunch/leave early.
Why not read a book on your commute instead, much more enjoyable!

I'd say no. I spend 5hrs a day commuting and am not allowed to count any time working on emails etc as work - so I just don't do it 'cos I'm not getting paid to.
Would make it a lovely short day in the office though if I could count those 5 hours 😬

Yes and no. It will clearly depend on what your T&Cs say, but as a general rule, it shouldn't count towards your contracted hours, no. It may well be that your manager will agree that some of this time counts towards your hours, as it is technically working, but you can't just claim it as 'work'.

Is it your complete job though? If your work phone calls are not forwarded to you for example, people in the team can't come and find you, you cant help out with crises?

I think this is the problem with working at home or on the train. There are only some jobs where it genuinely is possible to do the whole job remotely. If yours is one of them, your bosses should know that.

You are working but its not part of the work day. I wouldnt expect to be paid extra or something to compensate for time spent working on the train.

I don't think commuting time is working time, no.

Why on earth not, if OP is using all the time for work matters?

If you are an office based admin worker, and are trying to claim working time in a commute, thats a bit cheeky.

You are working voluntarily if you decide to do work on your commute. So even though you are completing tasks for work, it is for free.

I wouldn't allow commuting time to be included generally in my teams working hours as they would not be able to do the full range of tasks in those hours. As an occasional thing I would be ok if they needed to make up time etc that way.

I find I'm more productive on a train because I can filter out the background noise and consciously reply to things. I include it in my working hours if I'm heading to a meeting and read reports or reply to emails.

It’s working but whether you are totally focused and effective on your phone without easy access to other docs etc depends on your role.

My husband works on his commute and they let him arrive late and leave early because it’s a 3 hour round trip, however it’s on a train with WiFi and tables so he’s on his laptop and has his headset on so can take calls and draw up documents. He also often works evenings/weekends from home so that helps build his case for flexibility.

If there is an expectation that you respond to emails outside the office, then yes it is working time, if employer refused then I would stop answering emails during unpaid hours.
If you are just trying to make up your hours by responding to messages whilst commuting then no.

Of course it's work, but it doesn't count as your working hours if you do have them stated in your contract.

Unless it's been agreed then it doesn't count as part of your working day.
Replying to emails is work though.

It is work, but none of the companies I’ve worked for would officially count time spent commuting to / from the normal workplace as work time even if you spent the whole commute doing work emails.

They’d only let people claim pay for travel time if it was something like travelling off the normal working site for meetings / conferences etc.

Yes you are working, but if you are contracted to work say 35 hours answering emails on commute home shouldn't be counted as part of that/or overtime, it would be counted as doing a bit to catch up outside of hours.

Yes you are working but you are doing it in your own time which is your choice. It's the same as if you choose to answer work emails at home.

I shouldn't count as part of your working day - you wouldn't have this choice if you commuted by car or on foot.

Of course it`s work or you wouldn't be doing it.