AIBU to think if your boss wants you in the office, they should help pay to get you there?

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Barclays has delayed moving UK staff from two to three office days after thousands asked for help with commuting costs, and TSB staff are reportedly preparing legal action over a similar plan. In one survey, 29% of UK office workers said a subsidised commute would get them in more often.

One side says more office days is effectively a pay cut. The other says getting to work has always been the employee's cost.

Should employers chip in, or is that just part of having a job?

Oh yeah and the nurses want to be paid to get in to work too! Why should they not get their fares payed too? Seriously this working from home takes the piss.

yes! It is unbelievable to most of us but sadly I can quote many examples of frankly ridiculous requests we’ve had over the last couple of years. People thinking it’s ok to work bouncing their baby or toddler in their knees 7 hours a day, refusing to attend meetings or deliver training because they have children at home to look after….

Currently we have someone working for us for 12 weeks work experience to get back into the job market, we’ve planned his work, moved things around and arranged for him to shadow the team to get lots of experience. Then, in week two he emailed the boss and told her ( not asking !), that he’d be working from home for 2 days from now on. There’s no other word for it except a crazy sense of entitlement and a complete lack of understanding about the world of work.

I get free travel through my work. When I’ve been looking at other jobs I’ve had to factor in the cost of a bus/rail pass as that £100 a month makes a difference!

Why does working from home take the piss? Interested in specific reasons you have.

Covid got me my a life I’d not had fro years. I’d been getting up well before 6 each day and commuting 3 hours a day. That changed and I got a decent amount of sleep and worked a solid 8-9 hours a day as needed. No interruptions or talking around me. If we need to discuss something then there’s a Teams message asking if now is a good time? Plus calls are private.

And when we’re back in the office, everyone remembers why open plan is such a bad idea.

As it does for all!

It would be taxed anyhiw. And employers would have to put costs up and would pass on to consume. Leading to inflation. Should teachers be paid to go to work?And doctors?And road,sweepwrs?.
Unaffordable. Massive inflation

That's normal for many, long commutes and early starts!

Now that we have proven the home office is a valid work location (comes with a health and safety checklist...) then it should be treated the same as any other request by an employer to work temporarily in an alternative location - they pay all travel expenses and your hourly rate for the time spent travelling.

It's unacceptable to force people to pay money they don't have, and to lose hours of their lives to an unnecessary commute, when we made historical progress in the workplace environment following a catastrophic event.

It would be like trying to dismantle the NHS and force people to bankrupt themselves every time they needed an ambulance.. just because "we used to make you do this".. okay, but we need to keep moving forward and keep making positive change.

I’m from another country and most employers do pay for commuting, even before COVID/wfh.

You either get a season rail card or fixed fuel costs reimbursed.

In the UK everyone is conditioned to think that it’s all normal to oay for this yourself, but there is another way people!

Of course. Did you think I was claiming that I was some sort of exception? That’s the whole point!

No, people who don't have a legitimate place of work in their homes, don't have to be paid to go to work because they're not travelling from a valid work location to a different work location. Though maybe travel hours should be paid for everyone. But that's a separate issue.

Thing is, thing is… people have always had to pay to get to work. Just as you pay to get anywhere else.

And then you see, people who live further from their work often live in cheaper areas, and so more than save the money back that way. If people want lower commuting costs (and time), they live in more expensive areas (usually).

So I think it’s a bit much for people to move further from their work, or apply for better paid jobs far from their home and then complain about the travel costs!

If you have a contract which says home is your workplace, then yes, you can claim for travel expenses. But if wfh is an unofficial perk, then no way they could or should pay.

Completely depends on the contract.

Work from home, or 1 or 2 days in the office but company wants to change to more, they should be looking at pay rises to compensate for the change in arrangement. But no wfh, or asking for office days in line with the contract, the employees have to suck it up.

I do think there should be good reasons for changing the arrangements though. Work that can only be done in the office, or face to face meetings required. Possibly mentoring junior staff. Pulling people into the office more, only to sit on Teams all day is a waste of time and will massively reduce morale.

This. We need to look outside our own conditioning.

We need the government to step in and get rid of this bullshit "perk" clause. There's something called an "implied term" of your contract. WFH has been a thing for 6 years now. We just need the government to blanket enforce the home office to be your official place of work if that's where you work the majority of the time. Then, if employers still insist on you travelling to a different location, they can pay for it. And watch how many suddenly decide it isn't actually necessary (!)