To be reluctant to pay travel costs again

[Subaru4336]

Pre-pandemic I used to have a 4+hr commute, and worked in the office 3 days/week, leaving home ~5am and returning home after 7pm. Because I was travelling 3 days a week, an annual season ticket was the cheapest option.

Fast forward to now, and my company are wanting to mandate a minimum of 1 day/week in the office. This would represent a cost of ~£300/mth, which I obviously haven't been paying for the last 2.5yrs.

If I were to go to the office, I would still spend a significant time on Teams calls, as my team are spread across various locations (and have different offices as their local hubs).

We've had below inflation payrises for at least the last 10 years, and so I'm feeling somewhat resentful that my household budget has to take a £300/mth hit, on top of all the other rising costs, just to sit somewhere different on Teams, and be 'present' in the office.

Am I being unreasonable?!

@antelopevalley it may surprise you to learn that MN is not an entity, but consists of many different posters all with their own view.

I still say it's not unreasonable for an employer to expect it's staff to come in one day a week. I have to say I get a bit annoyed at ours because I do come in on our alleged team day and pretty often very few of us are actually in.

@rookiemere no need to be so patronising.
Most people learn that there is no point just doing something that makes no sense.

What a daft comment.

I still say it's not unreasonable for an employer to expect it's staff to come in one day a week

Neither do I. However, given the numbers allowing dogs in offices now they may have to accept that some of us aren't going anywhere near if we can help it (not only because of the office itself but the fact that they will be on the trains as well.

Of course it's not a daft comment, it is completely true. Employers should be bothered about performance.

I don't know of any offices or employers that are allowing dogs. Surely quite a niche thing due to allergies and phobias I would have thought ( and I say that as a dog owner).

Loads of London law firms are allowing them!

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/city-law-firm-slaughter-and-may-pilots-bring-your-dog-to-work-policy-in-wellbeing-drive-prkzdt05c

(I don't work at Slaughter & May, but my employer is also allowing them and they are by no means alone)

I think you're looking at this the wrong way.
Isn't it great that you can work from home 4 days a week, and save a big chunk of your commuting costs?
Presumably if Covid hadn't happened, you'd still be having to go in 5 days a week?

I spend a significant part of my day on Teams calls, but I still gain a great deal from physically being in the office. And my colleagues tell me that they gain from my being there. We have no idea whether this is simply a presenteeism policy or not.

You are so unreasonable it is untrue. One bloody day - if I were your manager you’d be back to the 3 days.

@redskyatnight what do you gain?

The 'step change' you refer to, OP, is that hybrid working is now the default. It isn't that you get to dictate you aren't going into the office.

@StepAwayFromGoogling you think an employee should not object to something that makes no sense?

I am hybrid working, I could work totally at home if I wanted to. I chose to back into the office sometimes to chat with colleagues. I get less work done on those days, it is purely social time added in by working in the office.

-Ability to learn about things going on outside of the immediate area i'm working on (i.e. by talking to people I don't generally come into contact with)

-being able to speak to people immediately about urgent things, and not having to wait and hope that they might notice their IM at some point

-collaboration in a large group is much easier

-it's easier to have "challenging" or personal conversations face to face

-in a fast moving situation, talking to each other is faster than constantly IMing (where the meaning sometimes gets lost) or having to organise Teams calls constantly

.... just off the top of my head.

Things you gain from being in the office:

1. Having face to face meetings and interaction with other colleagues. HUGELY important and underated. Even if some of your calls still happen on Teams, there is still a lot to be said to meeting in person.
2. Change of scene. Really good for your mental health not to be in the same environment day in day out for months and months on end.

There can be a benefit of being in the office; is it worth the cost of getting there, both monetary and time...I don't know.

Interestingly the business is also very hot on sustainability, only travel to another site if it's essential, etc., which jars somewhat against the conflicting message of travel to the office, regardless of whether there's any actual business need to.

Luckily I work with people who have more than an ounce of common sense. My manager actually agrees with me.

@red thanks that makes sense.
I agree with difficult conversations being better face to face.
In my workplace people wfh including senior staff are much easier to get hold of than when they are in the office and popping out to meetings. I rarely have to book in shorter team calls - just a quick are you free?
I prefer large meetings on zoom, but that is because the two people who tend to dominate do not seem to do it as much on zoom, so we actually get a wider range of input. I do not know why? Maybe on zoom it is more obvious to them that they are dominating?

@antelopevalley - not what I said at all. She can object all she likes. But her employer clearly feels there is value in the staff being there. Just because the OP doesn't think it makes sense, doesn't mean she gets to re-write her contract.

But @Subaru4336 if you lived closer, it might be possible to travel in a sustainable way.

I go in on the days I drop DS off for early morning sports training. I park where it's free and have an enjoyable half hour walk to get in ( currently there are ducklings and cygnets so it's very cute). But this is achievable because I work 4 miles away from my home.

Your long commute is not your employer's responsibility.

I enjoy socialising on the days I go into the office. That is fun. I catch up on the gossip.
In my job a lot of meetings and calls are always online as people are all around the country.

Having face to face meetings and interaction with other colleagues. HUGELY important and underated

I think most on this thread have said they're happy to go into the office to have face to face meetings. The issue is where employers are insisting people go in to the office only to sit in meetings with colleagues who are sat at home or in another office.

My husband has to be in the office 20% of the time. It would make sense if this was coordinated attendance so all his team are in the office on the same day. But it's not, so he travels on a packed train to sit in an office and be on teams calls with people who aren't in the office. Totally pointless.

@Mariposa80 and this is part of the problem of mandating in this way, and if you are, it then almost makes more sense to be even more prescriptive and say you must come in on x day!