Can't afford my commute!

[PrizePeach]

I need some advice please!

Pre covid I lived and worked in London. My company embraced home working and confirmed we would only be required to return to the office once a month when lockdown was lifted.

The past few months I have been attending once a month but they have now made a decision that all staff need to attend the office twice a week from June.

If I was still living in London this wouldn't be a problem but during lockdown I moved 90 miles away.

Before I even thought about the move I discussed this at length with my employer who advised this would be fine as the requirement to attend the office was only once a month and they felt it would be beneficial for me to move and have more space as I really struggled with my mental health in the first lockdown.

The problem I have is I live on a single income, I budget and live within my means and have a small disposable income. My train ticket is going to be £400pm and I simply can't afford it.

I discussed this with my manager who was blasé about it and just kept repeating that I need to attend the office.

Has anyone else been in this situation? I'm honestly so angry and upset as I openly discussed this with them to avoid this happening and now I just don't know how to move forward. A couple of other colleagues have quit over this but financially I can't do this as I have a mortgage and bills to pay!

What do I do??

I think all you can do is push for "reasonable notice" of a change to your established (and pre-agreed) location of work and meanwhile find a new job.

Even if you have it in writing that you can work remotely and attend the office once a month, your employer can change that with reasonable notice. If it comes down to you refusing and then insisting, then it will depend on how long you've been there and what it actually says in your contract about location of work.

Look for another job? Ask for a pay rise? Is there a next scale up that would cover the costs...

Is there anything in writing about you only having to go in once a month?
If so you may have grounds for constructive dismissal..

If its not in writing I would talk to UCAS/ union/HR..but I think your options are limited if not..

Would you want to go in twice a week even if closer?? If you like where you live maybe this is a catalyst for change......

A 90 minute commute was always a risk. What if they wanted you back in ft? Are you able to flex your hours to get a cheaper day ticket, book in advance, use a railcard, drive to a closer station, use coach?

I think she is 90 miles, rather than 90minutesbaway

Do you have anything in writing about your discussions with your employer? If you have, then this is what you need to show to your manager, along with your reasons for not being able to attend the office more than once a week.

If not, then could you try asking for a pay rise to cover the increased commuting costs? If people have already left because of this, they will probably want to keep you.

If none of this, then you will need to look for another job, or find ways to make that commute cheaper. What are the options that you have for travel? £400 a month for 8 journeys does seem a lot!

So your company said it wouldnt be an issue to move so far away and have now changed their minds. Do you have anything in writing?

have you got written evidence of the agreement for you to work from home? If so, you can argue that home is now your normal place of work and you should therefore be able to claim expenses if you have to travel into your old office.

Did they change your contract? To part time home working? Or full time home working? Look at your contract - you may be able to expense some travel if what they're demanding now is at odds with what you both changed your contract too when you agreed the new arrangement.

If you moved that far without an official agreement or getting your contract changed then that was extremely silly but you won't be the only one.

Unless you signed a new contract with your new working from home added in, there's not much you can do. If they've given you reasonable notice about their changes then you either have to suck it up or look for a new job. This was always going to happen unfortunately, especially jobs in London receiving a London wage. You won't be the only person bitten by this either. Far too many people thought WFH was going to last forever and they are being proven wrong. Either that or watch out for the introduction of remote learning wages vs in the office wages.

All employers are allowed to change their general terms according to business needs. Yes there are rules about consultations and notice periods but none of those change the eventual outcome, they just cause delays. If it came to a tribunal situation then I don't think your employers would be held to be unreasonable for not being able to know exactly how their business needs would develop.

If you have a friend who still lives centrally, could your 2 days a week be subsequent days, and you just do the journey once and stay with the friend overnight once a week? (or 4 friends and stay with each once a month?) That would halve the train travel to £200/m?

If you can't find a way to make it work then you just have to give notice and find another job, Let them know in your letter of resignation that you would been delighted to stay in your post if they are willing to honour their original position that commuting into London just once a month would be acceptable, and that you would be willing to consider increasing that to once a week if that came with an appropriate pay rise, but otherwise you'll regretfully be seeking other opportunities. What happens next will depend on how easy you are to replace, but you have to be prepared to show them where you draw they line before they will consider changing their attitude. Grumbling doesn't affect anything, only numbers of actual resignations will make a difference, and even then if the people who resign are those they don't mind losing then it might not be enough - it has to be resignations from people they want to keep enough to give matters a rethink.

Various PPs are confused - OP didn't say 90 minutes but 90 miles.

Places that are about 90 miles from central london: Bournemouth, Chippenham, Cheltenham, Coventry, Leicester, Kings Lynn, Ipswich. Some of these will have an easier commute than others.

Well it is not their issue if op is willing and able to travel to office as business requires.

At my place of work we have been very careful not to confirm anyone can wfh any more or less days than we currently expect which is 2 days in office per week

one lady moved MILES away from the office and is struggling but we never confirmed she could wfh we also discussed what is she going to do with the commute and she had an ‘idea’ about what she would do

this hasn’t happened and she’s facing disciplinary action now

was anything changed in your contract
was it an informal discussion
if I’m honest your manager should have managed this better and said look we don’t know what is going to change in the future with wfh/ office and what the company will expect from staff so consider this when you move
but sounds like they didn’t have foresight of this and just encouraged you based on the policy as it was then

if your contract didn’t change then you will be expected to go in depending on what the company want but if I was you I would speak to Hr about the situation and explain the conversations that took place you may be told it’s a blanket rule for everyone and where you moved to isn’t their problem but the manager was wrong to support this and If you have any records of your conversation with your manager then I wouldn’t blame you if you made a complaint or a grievance was started for your case. It might not change the outcome but it will improve the practice and how the manager operates going forward

sorry you are in this situation!

The reality is you need to find another job near to where you live
There is a staff shortage now you will have no problem

It's a shit situation. Your options are-
Negotiate to go in less
Find a way to commute - eg stay in London over night/car share
Find another job
Move to London or closer

I find it hard to believe that she was told moving 90 miles away would be fine FOREVER. I think a lot of people have really enjoyed the huge benefits of working from home and have stuck their fingers in their ears when people have indicated it wont be forever.

attend the office twice a week ... £400/month

So that's £50/90 mile journey. Presumably at peak times.
How are you getting such cheap tickets?

You said there was an impact on your mental health. Do you have an underlying condition? If so it’s possible you could ask for more home working as a reasonable adjustment and if you can prove it’s not impacting on productivity you could have a good argument for it.

By booking several weeks in advance?