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?

Yes it is working. Of course it is working. For those saying it isn’t, they maybe can’t grasp the concept of flexible working and expect you to be sat at your desk to answer those emails.

If they don’t count it as work, then I suggest you switch your work phone off during that time.

I think the people saying commuting time is not working time ( including HMRC!) are missing the point. 20 years ago you couldn’t easily work on the train, but with laptops and mobile devices, provided you have a seat there is no reason at all why you can’t do your work emails and all sorts of other admin like preparing quotations, orders, invoices, etc on the train as easily as you can in the office. If you are getting a solid 1 or 2 hours worth of work done, then it’s part of your working day.

Unless your job is exclusively responding to emails where all the resources you need to do so are available to you on your commute, you’re not available for all aspects of your role. If someone was expecting me to respond to emails outside my work hours I might try this argument as a way of stopping them doing so, but I wouldn’t expect to get very far. You either have to accept that you are working in your own time, or stop answering the emails. Obviously I think the latter is preferable.

I’m field based in my role. So my home is my office and I regularly have to travel for various types of meetings.

Policy at my company is the minute you get into your car to travel to a meeting it’s classed as time spent at work. And any travel time over the end of the working day is also classed as time spent at work.

All companies have different policies depending on your role, but I’d say any work you do outside of your normal working hours, is still work.

So yes, I’d still class that as working because you are completing work tasks during your commute.

Your trains must be considerable emptier than ours. When you are standing and squashed up against the back of the person in front of you, like you are in rush hour on our trains, you'd have no chance of getting any work done.

For those saying it isn’t, they maybe can’t grasp the concept of flexible working

or more likely grasp the concept of people taking the piss. For all the reasons already written on this thread, it would be a massive no for me.
Do some work on the train by all means, but if you are expected to be at your desk for some set hours, your commute does not count.

It is working, just not at work.

Being field or home based is different to being office based and working on the train. In my view working on the train can be more effective than office based but obviously not if you are standing on your commute!!

Answering work emails is working
communting is not working
If you combine the two a reasonable boss might be more flexible with start and finish times but not by much. General admin I would be more flexible senior management tough shit its all parr for the course

However on top of that you as a boss have to consider how healthy this is as I am sure you are not leaving at 3 for a two hr commute. If you leave at say 4.45 then I wouldn't have an issue at all if I could see working time and emails answered etc

As soon as people start drawing solid lines then the working relationship is quick to break down in my view

I wouldn't say that commuting time is part of your working day. If you're travelling from office to office, or to site, then fair does, but getting to work and home again isn't working time. We don't even always get paid travel time...depends on the contract with the client.

Are you trying to claim overtime for logging into your emails on the train??

Commuting isn't work time. If you choose to respond to emails that's your choice but IMO I wouldn't class commenting time as part of my working day if I worked 9-5 I would be in the office 9-5 not 11-3 because I reply to emails on my commute

Surely it totally depends on your job and company policy? I can work from home or from a cafe if I want, so why not a train?

Well it's not your hobby is it? Of course it's work!

no one it's disputing that it's "work", but it's absolutely not "work time".

When you have a flexible job, no one cares, but if you have to justify a certain amount of hours in the office, you can't take off the commute! Nice try, but no.

Why do you respond to them when not ay work? Is your work liable to go into nuclear meltdown if you don't. The answer is in your and your colleagues own hands.

I do this, same time frame, 1 hour each way on the train. Any work emails answered from a mobile before you are in the office can't be classed as working if for example you wanted to use that time to claim overtime or leave 2 hours earlier. Its ultimately your choice to do this.

It is working, the issue is do you expect to be paid for it?

If so, has this been agreed by management in advance or is this something you've taken upon yourself to get through your workload quicker and pass the time on your commute?

If it's the latter, that's on you.

If they expect it but are refusing to pay then stand your ground. Either they pay you or you take that time as TOIL at your leisure.

TOIL - Time Owed In Leave.

I love how people are saying you can't physically do all your work away from the office! How do people think people work from home?
We have a system in place that allows us to work completely remotely and we've almost gone paperless, just the older files are paper now. Unfortunately this means I hardly get up from my desk these days!
So if there is Wi-fi, which most trains provide, I could work on a train if needed, but I drive to work and don't have any business travel

If you can do a lot of your job on the train, I’d maybe ask for a day working from home each week. Saves a day of travelling at least.

Unless your employer is expecting you to do it you can't claim its working. If you are just doing it by choice then no!

Under recent legislation, this is working time

TOIL - Time Owed In Leave.

No, it's time off in lieu.

Don't work on your commute, read a magazine, listen to music, chill if you can. I would add don't do it on your lunch break either !
I would say doing work stuff is work; it can be just as unproductive working in a noisy office or getting constant interruptions as doing it on the train. Otherwise you might as well say I will work from home !

TOIL, as pp said this is time off in lieu.

I haven't read the whole thing but I do think this is a grey area really. You'd have to commute the two hours anyway, irrespective of whether you had access to your emails. You're presumably choosing to answer them-I'd struggle to call it working time personally. I have my work emails on my phone and unless I'm in another country (or drunk) I do still deal with urgent ones even when I'm on annual leave. I don't view it as working, because it's my choice to keep on top of it. I can absolutely see the other side of the argument though, but think you should just stop doing it if you want it to be more appreciated than it is.