If your head office is in the arse end of nowhere that’s not my problem

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I’m based in London, do a highly specialised job. I’ve been contacted by a recruiter about a new job, and it seems absolutely amazing. There aren’t many people working in this sector yet and I have been at it for 15 years.

The company want someone in the office 2 days a week, but their office is in the arse end of nowhere in Norfolk.

Now I’m happy to go into the office as a when needed. But if you are going to go for presenteeism and require people to be in regardless, AND want to start recruiting for specialised technical roles, having a head office in a small town 30 miles from Norwich and 100 miles from London is a bit fucking stupid.

The recruiter has phoned me twice asking me to reconsider the offer. But they won’t budge on the 2 days a week, and I am not up for uprooting the family.

It’s a shame as I really like the team and the job. But they just seem unrealistic. They can’t find anyone else apparently….but with that office location I am not surprised.

If the job offer does suit you just refuse it politely. The recruiter wants their cut on the contract of course they want you to reconsider.

Maybe you could offer to stay up there a night, at their expense, every week. Do two days back to back that way?

I agree with PP - it is up to them. But what a shame that they are missing out on a suitable and willing candidate in the circumstances. I hope that the two days' required are a genuine need and not pointless presenteeism.

She's not suitable or willing to do the role as they want it done....

There are many reasons to want people in the office, everything from mentoring young people, creating a company culture/community, to supporting the local community. Just because it doesn't suit you, doesn't make it pointless. Yes, I agree hybrid can work, but I think companies will pay for never getting their teams together in the long term.

Possibly. I think if as a company you are fishing from a limited pool of niche technical people, you might find you need to adjust. I guess they'll either get a suitable candidate, or not.

It sounds like the recruiter isn't communicating your very clear feedback to the company.

I've lived in small and midsize towns most of my life, so I'm not coming from a place of big-city bias, but Norfolk is really pretty rural. Norwich is the only largeish settlement and the smaller towns are quite spaced out, often without brilliant transport links.

I fully support many more companies headquartering outside London. But that realistically means in midsize-to-large cities - and perhaps small towns that are easy to get to from other places. It doesn't sound like the place OP is describing fits the bill.

I've no idea what your question is. You are not being unreasonable for turning down a job that doesn't suit you. You are being unreasonable for ranting about their effrontery in offering a job that doesn't suit you.

Yanbu. Businesses need to accept that if you have an office or hybrid model they can only draw from a smaller pool of candidates.

I had eleven recruiters over the space of 5 months contact me about a job. It was paying 50% more than market rate but was 5 days in the office in a not particularly accessible location.

Just shows that even at the inflated salary they couldn’t get anyone.

Wow!
The entitlement. If people want to employ me, they need to move attitude won’t get you very far.
I’m guessing you’re young and feel companies ought to be grateful to have you 🙄

I'd move - Norfolk is fantastic - especially for bring up kids. Close enough to London to get there when needed but far enough away to keep visitors down to a minimum

I had a similar issue when negotiating the contract for my role (although London didn’t factor into it, and I already worked for the company but not in head office). The rest of the team live locally to the head office and are expected to be in 2 days a week. I live 5 hours away and go in once a month at their expense. If they/you want to make it work then it can be done.

So you want to create even more areas where there is no decent employment to cause even more people to have to move into the already congested and expensive London and South East? Utterly bonkers.

What IS needed is better public transport links all over the UK so that people can live and work outside a handful of big cities to spread the people all over the country.

That's not what she's saying though - but don't let that stop you having a pop at her. She's being hassled by a recruiter for a job that she's already said she doesn't want because they won't budge on flexibility and she doesn't want to relocate her family to the depths of Norfolk. How is that 'entitled'?

I am with you OP. There are a lot of triggered posters who think this post is about dunking on small towns or making unreasonable demands of a company, when it clearly isn't. I live in a small town myself and drive over an hour to work once a week. But if they tried to force me into the office for the sake of, I'd be out of there. I am privileged enough to have alternatives, which means I get to be choosy. That wasn't the case for most of my career, but it is now and I take full advantage of it, because who knows when the roles will be reversed again. Loyalty doesn't mean anything, you will be let go whenever it suits them regardless of you bending over backwards to accommodate unreasonable requests such as uprooting your family for a job you don't strictly need.

Personally, I think their presenteeism policy is a red flag. I think I would withddraw my application if they come back again with the same request/demands.

Yeah they need to be more flexible if they want to recruit for a niche role. I am also in a niche role and have worked from home with trips to offices when required, for fifteen years now. Companies can take it or leave it. Most want you in Oxford, Cambridge or London and there's no way in hell I'm leaving the north. I told the last company I would consider moving further north to Scotland but I wasn't going any further south so I now travel to Oxford for a couple of days a month.

Can't you just travel up one day, stay overnight, work, then travel home in the evening? Sorry if said before.

Absolutely. This has clearly touched a nerve with posters who, quite rightly, feel there need to be more and better job opportunities outside of London. The problem is they seem to be projecting their own feelings onto OP and then seeing her as entitled.

OP is not saying the company needs to move to her. She’s wondering why they’re persisting in pursuing her when they know the set up doesn’t work for her and they’re not prepared to budge on their office time requirement.

The company needs to shit or get off the pot. Either allow OP to do less time in the office or take no for an answer. And stop trying to have it both ways.

Such an outdated attitude

I work in London, we have a 1-2 days a week in the office policy, we’ve recently added three people to our team who are based in Scotland, because they have the specialist skills we need. And so of course the 1-2 days a week in the office is waived.
The project needs their skills and remote is better than no one or someone not quite up to it.
I think in some firms it’s cultural, they can’t make exceptions because someone else will moan about coming in, even if they live two minutes away and take great umbrage at someone getting perceived special treatment.
And others companies have a less bothered culture.

Some people would jump at the chance of being able to live somewhere rural when they are in a profession that has caused them to be stuck in London. As that’s not you, stick to your guns snd say no. They’ll find someone eventually.

They're idiots for continuing to try to recruit you without changing their conditions. And I don't blame you for not wanting to uproot your family.

But for what it's worth, rural Norfolk is generally regarded as a very desirable 'relocate to the country' area. Bucolic even. So I don't blame the company for locating themselves there.

But basically, if they want you, they need to meet your conditions, not the other way around.

Company paying the relocation, moving fees and stamp duty?

@BunfightBetty

The problem is they seem to be projecting their own feelings onto OP and then seeing her as entitled.

No, I think the OP's own comments cause other to see her as entitled, i.e. her comments such as "arse end of nowhere" and other derisory comments.

Trouble is, that if 2 days in the office is the company official policy, they really can't make exceptions, otherwise all the other staff will start wanting more WFH days and cite the OP in their formal requests for flexible working!