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?

The only time I think there is an argument for the employer to pay is when the employee has a fully remote contract and the employer requests that they go in.

and I say that as someone currently doing hybrid and not wanting more days in the office! Don’t get me wrong, I’d love my employer to pay but realistically can’t see any reason why they should

I live in a country where I my company pays my commuting costs from the station nearest to my house regardless of whether I actually use the train or not. It’s taxed the same as salary.

Problem in England is the high cost and poor quality of public transport. My commute costs about 8GBP a day. The equivalent kind of commute in England would probably be about 30GBP

'Choose jobs that pay more'? Like it's that simple. Have you tried job-hunting in the current market?

I suspect many of those who are asking for help with work-related travel costs are on shit money to begin with, as so many people in the UK unfortunately are.

obviously if your t&cs have changed, but if you decided to move from London to Cornwall during lockdown….then asking for subsidies is unreasonable

When has travel to work ever been paid for? Certainly not in my lifetime as a teacher and also doing supply driving 30 miles each way. Are office based jobs different 🤔?

Well you get paid more for being a supply teacher don’t you

Unless your contract isa fully wfh job then you are being a cheeky git

I think it depends on the role. Current job is Al.ost 100% in the office anyway (I can do some training from home. Previous job was hybrid before Covid - supporting servers all round the world. If I had to fix a server in Australia, why does it matter if I'm WFH or from the office, as long as my network connection is up to it. I had colleagues all over the world, too - again, if I've got a meeting with them, it wouldn't be face-to-face, except very rarely (and work did pay for that, as it would involve flights abd hotels etc,) so we always did lots of video calls, and again, does it matter if I'm doing that from home or thr office?

That company and my current one have not mandated100% return to office. Current one has stipulated times you shoukd get in, and there shoukd be an effort to focus on collaboration and being in on the same day to do face-to-face work. (My role is 100% office anywY, but not everyone is.) It has raised queries about travel budgets, because some teams are split across sites. Not a big deal if it's Reading and Basingstoke, but Basingstoke and Manchester is a bit more of a challenge. I imagine they'll sort it out.

Lol you're joking! The agencies get paid well. £80 a day for cover supervisor at moment, after tax etc it's £58, travelling 20 miles each way. Temporary, usually earn £140 and after tax etc £115, 20 miles or more, going to any school after being called at 6.30am, put in a full day of teaching in 6 different classrooms.

Where on earth did you get the idea supply teachers earn a fortune? Please do some research.

Apologies, I haven’t done research. Just assumed like most contracting roles cover gets paid more