New job alarm bells

[Winterwonderlandisicy]

I’ve recently been offered a new job after my ftc ended. I have some concerns about the new job.

I was told the job was working from home but on the contract it states the place of work is location X . This is 2 hours drive each way from where I live.

Also included in the contract was a clause for clawing back the recruitment fee plus VAT in the event I leave. This is about £15,000.

In addition I was sent a medical questionnaire with about 50 highly invasive questions on it. There was also an added threat that if you don’t disclose everything and they find out you will be disciplined or dismissed.

I’m worried about this because I have a disability and I get the feeling the questioning at a later date will be highly intrusive.

The employer then decided to google me and found I’d done some work during the Covid period when my employer couldn’t afford to pay me, work was on hold and I was furloughed. The director said this was a conflict of interest and raised it with the recruiter.

The work which I did for a temp basis was over 2 years ago and the paperwork which was visible in public domain clearly indicated that this work was no longer being undertaken. The company were also told I was made redundant during Covid and this was agreed with former employer during Covid.

The director did not check the paperwork before making a serious accusation. It felt like I was being stabbed in the back before I’ve even started.

Would all these things raise alarm bells with you?

I’m at final interview stage for another job. The interview is next week. This is using another agent. The company has been told I have a job offer and if they want to offer I will need to know within 72 hours max. I’ve worked with this company historically for 6 years so stand in a good position.

YANBU - alarm bells are ringing don’t take the job

YABU - take the job

Don’t take the job. I had a similar situation where there were serious alarm bells for a role I had been verbally offered - although different to yours. I backed out of signing the contract as my gut instinct was screaming at me that it wasn’t right.
I’m so glad I did.
You know it’s not right, it sounds horrendous - if they’re like this already, then that’s a taster of what they would be like as employers.
Trust yourself, there are better roles out there. Good luck.

Red flags everywhere. I'd be passing on this one, OP.

I think this. You need to be very careful they don't 'hire' you for two months and then decide not to continue for some spurious reason, and not pay you as they are clawing back the recruitment fee.

Look for a company that respects and trusts its workforce.

I am fully homebased and a line manager for a large EU team.

1. The location of your workplace in the contract is enforceable. It doesn't matter if they verbally say you can work from home. If the contract says your work location is X office then they can ask you to work from X office full time. If I got a vibe from an interview I'd likely accept a contract with an office location and the verbal agreement to work from home flexibly as needed for a small percentage of my time but |I'd be aware that flexibility could be withdrawn. All the remote workers in my team (including me) have my home as work location. This is my 4th remote contract and every one has listed my place of work as home.

2. Recruitment bonuses are often on a "pay it back if you leave within a year" basis but terms should be clear. No way would I sign a contract that required me to pay back my own recruitment costs if I leave. I WANT to be able to leave. Normally the probation period allows me to leave within 2 weeks (my normal notice is 3 months) so I would refrain from spending any recruitment bonus in that time and be ready to leave if I didn't like the place.

3. The medical questionnaire is pretty normal but points 1 & 2 would be 100% no-gos for me. I'm not sure I'd even argue - I'd just go somewhere else. If this is the sort of contract they are offering then I'd assume they are shit to work for.

I’d trust your gut and reject.

I'm not an employment law person so won't comment on that but seems like if you have one offer - and another close interview situation you would also find another job quite quickly probably anyway.

I agree.

I think the WFH thing is quite normal, I've had two jobs where I have worked from home, but then my contract has been changed (more hours, temp to perm type thing) and they've put "full time in the office" in the new contract and it's had to be changed.

Trying to claw back the recruitment fee is cheeky and not normal.

If you don't feel comfortable about the health thing, that is enough on its own.

Googling you is normal, but I can't see what the issue was with doing a bit of work while in furlough. People have to earn a crust and the furlough money wasn't enough for a lot of people.

I'd look for a different job OP.

I took a "WFH" role the had the business address as my place of work, fast forward 6 months and I'm expected to start going on the office twice a week, it's not in my contract that I'm a remote worker so have no rights.
I now work for someone else with a WFH contract.

Should have said that had the business address 🙄

Look on glassdoor too

Recruitment is very much a 2 way process. You are "interviewing" the company just as much as they are "interviewing" you. If you don't feel comfortable at this stage politely decline.

Thank you much for all your feedback and comments.

nobody has reviewed the company. They have given themselves a 5/5 on google.

I spoke to the former employee who I know first hand is a model employee. He told me I would be under a magnifying glass, micro managed, cut off from the team as they are not London based and under pressure from a very demanding project which was a nightmare to get too.

He worked there 1.5 years and met the boss once. No team events or parties or gatherings. When he resigned they took £500 from his salary and totally ignored him like he didn’t exist.

The other company has come back to me and im meeting all the big wigs on Monday so fingers crossed I don’t screw it up.

I have major anxiety about the job. I really need the second one to come through 😢

I was made redundant during Covid and can’t afford to be out of a job again. I’m single and I have no support .

@Winterwonderlandisicy good morning and good luck for Monday.
I think that companies that place restrictions on people are chancers. You don't want to work for this shower so 'let it go'. There was something off with my new employers in the spring (8 meetings /Saturday teams). I, like you was worried I would be unemployed post redundancy. It makes you 'rabbit in headlights' nervous. Were they being cautious? No they were shits. After receiving their dodgy contract I knew they were up to something. I introduced them to a multiple million pound business relationship. They ended my employment with little official notice and no pay off. They cost me £125k.
As I said my earlier post I am disabled and they made a point of walking everywhere for sodding hours. Plus their lift at HO was broken. Five floors up I needed to climb. Just inconsiderate bastards.
Never take a job because you are desperate. Think Bridget Jones. I will be off to Marks on the food Isle if I can't get something new. Life is too short to be bullied via a contract and you don't even work there yet. Let us know how you get on.

WendyWagon - so sorry to hear. I hope you have found a nice new employer and they are looking after you.

I will meet the other company on Tuesday and report back.

Fingers crossed for Tuesday op.🤞🏿💐💐

@Dontjudgeme101 - thank you so much . I will come back and update you all .

I’m a recruiter and have never ever heard of a company charging an individual recruitment fees if they leave. That alone would be enough of a red flag for me.

the wfh thing not so much as I know companies have been slow to standardise
new contracts since wfh became standard.

Just seen your update sorry- yeah run a mile now.

best of luck with the interview for the second job.

There were so many things to feel uncomfortable about in your OP - but always trust your gut instinct.

the medical but is ringing huge clanging alarm bells for me!

The definition of disability is a legal one, not a medical one, so there is no legal obligation for you to complete a medical questionnaire and if they try to force you to do one, or punish you for not doing so, it would be disability discrimination. The choice is yours, not theirs.
The only way they can establish if you are disabled or not, is to take you to court or tribunal and have that court or tribunal decide - because its a legal definition, not a medical one.
Conversations about adjustments at work should be led by you, not them but even if you do not share or disclose, they still have a legal responsibility to make their place of work accessible and inclusive.
I would also be royally pissed off about the £15,000 claim back thing and the change of location.
You should get onto the recruiter and question all the above.

I work in HR and may be able to provide a bit of insight.
The 15K training cost clause tells
me the company has had a lot of new joiners leave relatively quickly. This has a financial impact and instead of getting to the bottom of the reasons new hires don’t stay for longer and fix whatever toxic culture they have in place, they try to recoup the costs of onboarding and training.
The invasive health questionnaire also points towards the fact that the company seems to think that once hired, they own you!
Such a controlling culture, if I was you I would RUN AWAY before you get sucked in.

This is the Jeffrey Dahmer of jobs, definitely trust your gut.

I'm a recruiter and that fees bit is absolute rubbish, we wouldn't work with a client like that. Red flag, avoid!

The fact that you've made this post - you already know the answer. Walk away.