Relocation....

[alabasterangel]

I've just returned to work after mat leave (oml and aml) and have negotiated to return to work on a reduced basis (3 days) which is up for review at the end of sept to hopefully be made permanent.

However, I have returned to a less than happy scenario.

There have been management changes since I went away. I have been kept in the loop (informally) by colleagues and the rest of my small team are also on the whole unhappy.

We are a spread out team, spanning a region. Management want the regional team to 'sit together' - they have some statistics that apparently support this saying teams who sit together are more productive. With this in mind they want to relocate us all to one office, which for me would be over an hours commute each way as opposed to 10 minutes at present.

There are other regions nationally within the company. Some sit together, some don't. The ones who don't are not being asked to do the same.

There is no operational need. My office remains open, my desk is there. My work is geographically in the area I am based in and has been for 19 years. The only need, they admit, is control and this theory that we work better as a team when seated together. My figures are always good, I always hit targets and meet my objectives, and my projects never fail or have bad statistics.

I will be expected to get in the car, drive past my existing office, drive on for a further hour and sit and do what I could have done perfectly well (if not better) from my existing site.

They made this intention clear before I returned to work (it was discussed in meetings with other team members). Do I have any maternity rights that state I should be able to return to the same place of work?

Is constructive dismissal an option? If they insist I do this, I am in a position that I simply can't drop my children at nursery and collect again within their opening hours, and do the the days work and commute - I would probably be forced to hand my notice in?

I'm so fed up and confused. I love my job, but I can't stand all this. Just wondering how to deal with it when I have an individual meeting to discuss it next week with my line manager.

This is a really tough situation for you. It is clearly not a company wide directive but does sound like a done deal.

Have a look on here with regards to constructive dismissal and relocation.

Approaching this positively as leaving your job is not necessarily best for you, could you discuss other options? Working one day a week from other location, traveling for meetings as necessary, teleconfercing for a morning / weekly huddle?

Look at other information regarding effectiveness like BT's flexible working information here and try to put a convincing argument together as to why it is not necessarily the best thing to do.

Will you have visit your current location from your new one which would take time out of your day?

Good luck

Thank you.....

I had to have a chuckle at that BT link. You don't know how pertinent that is!!!! Same industry is as far as I am confident to publicly post. The irony is that our company has (they say) a forward thinking policy with regards to flexible working (such as home working or flexible locations), but at the same time when you drill down to local management and what is actually going on in reality is more like micro-management with a fake glossy facade that we are a "fun and relaxed" place to work. Couldn't be further from the truth....!

It has been insinuated that we are not to work from home any longer although that has been allowable in the past, and is now frowned upon unless there is an emergency home situation (so then they would rather you worked from home than not worked at all). Again that has been removed as they "prefer to have control and visibility". This is despite our productivity being wholly transparant and obvious due to monitored targets and figures.

I could duck and dive; arrange meetings nearer home at the end of the day, etc, but I really don't want to do that. There is no actual need for me (and 3 others) to be moved, so I fail to see the point of putting us all under such stress.

Ironically I have already moved house once within my time at the company, to be nearer my work, as I didn't like the commute I was facing and had gone through a really bad car accident doing that commute one day. I don't suppose that'll be taken into consideration though.....

A huge factor for me is the journey. I am soley responsible for my children during the week (husband works away and we don't live near any family due to the above relocation!!!). The route involves a notoriously bad section of motorway. I've got snarled up on there before and it's common. No other routes without extending the journey hugely. Routefinders list it as an hour. Mileage wise it should be an hour. Reality is it can easily be 1.5 hours+ but they won't listen to that. The stress just thinking every day that I could be late back to get the kids would be huge; it would make me miserable, and even more so when it's wholly uneccesary to be doing it in the first place. When nursery shuts, it shuts - I don't have local backup (relatives etc) and leaving work when expected will leave me getting back by the seat of my pants even on a good day. My home work balance will be rubbish whereas at the moment it's brilliant.

I have no idea what to do, but this is stressing me out hugely.....

Can you get any of the supporters of the flexible working forward thinking policy on your side and ask them to have a quiet word?

Also, is it worth having a word with HR before your meeting? Do your research about whether it could be classed as constructive dismissal first, then have a quick chat with HR as drop hints that this could make your position with the company untenable, talk about consultation, change in implied terms and conditions of your employment and see what they have to say.

Also, do you have legal support as part of your benefits package, might be worth giving them a call.

Basically, by not asking you to commute for up to three hours a day, they could have you working for that time instead and be happy!! Think of the ways you can say that while at the same time offering solutions as to how you as a team can work together better.

The other thing to think about from a personal point of view is whether it would be possible to have a nanny instead of nursery? Not having to drop off and pick up added about 40 minutes to my day when I made the change and having the children at home made the mornings and evenings less stressful for everyone. I know this probably has a cost implication.