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.

My daughter works in a scientific job in the south east and has to be in the office for 20% of her time. She lives near enough to cycle in 3-4 days a week but her line manager lives in Dorset and does one week a month in the office. Could this work for you?

Agree that good connectivity, wherever the office is, is important. I think Norfolk has no motorways (the only county with none? Or maybe Suffolk too), and the roads are slow. Trains fine to Norwich but not great elsewhere. It can’t be good for visitors going for meetings either.

That doesn’t mean all offices need to be in the south east! In fact getting to York from London by train is quicker than many places in the south east.

I'm from Bristol, live just outside and have never left...but it's a shite place to live! I know people rave about it but you have to travel outside the city for everything so I understand where the op is coming from. Aside from health care.

A medium sized band - you have to travel
A decent set of shops not just high street brands - travel
A theatre show apart from ex West end hits - travel
Decent art/classical music - travel

We have decent food offerings and a balloon fiesta but that's about it. Thankfully it's on 2 motorways and mainline rail

Remember the op.is up.routing her family, so if they stay say 10 years, the kids will have to move away for uni/work (please visit Cornwall and see how many kids move away).

there are no motorways if they want to visit family in Norfolk

Tbh this is what the job market is like for professionals that lives anywhere other than London- a great deal of the fucking jobs are in London - it is great to get opportunities outside of London.

Ok the jobs not for you so don't take it.

I’m in a fully remote role

However I do have to go to our head office sometimes.

Our head office is in North Wales. I live in Birmingham. It’s a 200 mile round trip.

One of my colleagues lives in Norfolk. And has to travel to North Wales for meetings. So I’ve got it quite quite good compared to her. She also covers the London area so frequently has to travel to London from Norfolk.

You either want the job, or you don’t.

Well of course the recruiter wants you to reconsider. They lose out on a placement fee if post is not filled.

It’s probably somewhere such was Fakenham, Wells-next-the-Sea or Swaffham.

It's always risky to take on a job like this, even more so if you decide to move house.

My DH's firm chose to move, admittedly not that far from London but a difficult car commute for many employees as the office wasn't close to a station. Many employees who lived on the wrong side of London moved to the area and were repaid by being made redundant a couple of years later. In some cases they had moved from more expensive housing areas and couldn't afford to move back.

DH and I decided not to move but he had to commute for well over an hour by car each way every day. A real slog but worth it in the end when they moved him back to a very small London office close to the HO.
Obviously WFH gives a different scenario, but you are quite right not to want to do it if it isn't necessary - why on earth do they keep contacting you?

And if you relocate and then lose your job you've slipped behind on your house value and probably can't afford to pay London (or Greater London) house prices where many jobs still are based.

Presenteeism pre COVID was called going to work!

You've hit the nail on the head here. My DD also changes job every couple of years and always has good options when she wants to move on, but that is because she is based in London and there are so many jobs here.

Being stuck at the far side of Norfolk would reduce opportunities to almost zero for many people, which is why many would not consider moving there for a possibly insecure job.

Seriously?!?
Have you even looked at transport options for getting to Norwich? And it's not even IN Norwich!

I agree that being too London centric is a national problem, but if a company insists on locating their head office in the wilds of Norfolk then they can expect problems finding skilled people who are willing to attend the office 2 days a week.

Unbelievable. Is this what some Londoners tell themselves about the rest of the UK outside one city?

I thought this was just a daft stereotype!

Given the difference in house prices between London/SE and much of the rest of the country, I think that it's unaffordable for a lot of people, unless they're prepared to cram themselves into a shoebox.

A friend's parents were considering moving to the SE from a village in Yorkshire to be closer to their kids and GCs, but when they saw what they could buy here for the price of their lovely 4-bed detached period house, they soon changed their minds.

Everything in that comment is objective fact. There is peer reviewed published research on the ‘skills chasm’ between London and the rest of the country. I can provide links to the research, if you’d like? There’s also an article in the Financial Times that explains how this concentration of high-paying jobs in London limits opportunities elsewhere.

It’s not about Londoners ‘telling themselves’ anything. It’s the reality, regardless of how you feel about it.

It's the capital city and of course there will be a disproportionate number of large, international companies having their head office there.
However the idea that a company is being a bit daft locating a head office outside London, because there is limited available 'talent' is laughable. There may be more experience, but that balance will easily redress if companies create opportunities elsewhere. The idea that all of the urban, suburban and rural areas outside of London are filled with unskilled, uneducated oiks, making recruitment impossible, is arrogant to say the least.

I do feel that there are wealthy and influential organisations and individuals, who benefit to the tune of billions from the inflated property prices and cost of living etc in London, who have a vested interest in maintaining the idea that companies and individuals must be located in London to be successful/globally focused/talented/finger on the pulse etc. It is high time companies and individuals do challenge that perception and stop being manipulated by parties profiting from this.

That not actually what the OP said though. The role is in a location 30 miles from the nearest big town.
Compared with many other towns and cities in the UK, and even within Norfolk, that is the arse end of nowhere.

Or perhaps in a static home?

The idea that all of the urban, suburban and rural areas outside of London are filled with unskilled, uneducated oiks, making recruitment impossible, is arrogant to say the least.

Indeed. Which is why that’s not what I said. I said that most of the highly qualified, super specialised talent is generally located in or around the big cities, often London.

However the idea that a company is being a bit daft locating a head office outside London, because there is limited available 'talent' is laughable

Didn't say this, either. I said that if they were based outside London and refused to let people work remotely, they would have a much harder time recruiting.

Again, it’s not ‘perception’. There is actual academic research to back up every single word I’ve written. I’ve offered to provide links if you want to read it.

If you choose to disregard that, because you don’t like it, then that’s nothing to do with me.

It's a quick 40 miles though, dual carriageway most of the way. It's not like being 40 miles from the M23 in Sussex, where the roads are shite. It once took me 2.5 hours to do 44 miles home after a work thing, no crashes or anything, just normal for a rainy evening in Sussex.

But the OP doesn't want to go there anyway, and the recruiter needs to stop hassling her if they can't get the company to budge on the office time.

Go for the interview.
Liaise direct with the company.
Negotiate 4 days a month staying in a nearby hotel.

Take the job or forever wondet.

Stand your ground, if they can’t find someone suitable, they may eventually relax their rules on this and then you are most definitely in the driving seat. Best of luck

just dont respond to them,
sounds crazy