Company relocating. Move or resign?

[Welliesandpyjamas]

I’ve worked for this company for 8 years. Due to internal and external industry changes, the company is moving to a new location. It is further away from where I live, three times the travel time, and would mean leaving the house before my DD (13) leaves for her school bus. I also have an older teen DS who has struggled a huge amount over the last few years. He has ASD and ADHD, and now home educated online, which works better for him and we are now seeing he is in a much better place. He can be home alone but not constantly and likes the reassurance that I work nearby and can come home if he needs me. DH works further away and has to leave the house before 7.

I asked my employer if remote or hybrid working would be possible due to the new location being further than what was involved when I first took the job. It isn’t an enormous distance but if I was jobseeking now I would discount it immediately based on travel time.

I feel stuck between moving for the stability/continuity and resigning before the move and finding another job closer to home (or remote) for my children’s needs.

What do you think - move or resign?

Forgot to include that my employer said no to remote/hybrid.

Sounds like a difficult decision. What's your current travel time and what would the travel time to the new location? Is your employer offering redundancy to those who can't relocate?

It doesn’t sound like moving is an option with your DS at home. Is it full time?

Would it be far enough for redundancy to apply? Will they compensate for the additional travel short term?

It’s a very small company now that the industry we are in has changed so much. Only 3 of us will be left after someone else retires (a role that doesn’t need filling), so no redundancies being considered afaiw.

It is full time and long hours but seasonally (about 7 months of the year in total). The rest of the year it is part time and low demand, which has been helpful over the years in being available for the school runs etc

I’m not sure. What distance would normally be considered?

What's your current travel time and what will your new travel time be? It's relevant because it could mean that you could argue that the change in location is not a 'reasonable' change in your T&Cs and that you're effectively being made redundant.

Have you got a mobility clause in your contract?

• google says “Redundancy: If an employee refuses to move (especially if there's no mobility clause or the request is unreasonable), their role at the old location may be considered redundant. In this case, eligible employees (with two or more years of service) may be entitled to a redundancy payment.”

Current time: approx. 10 mins drive.
New travel time: approx. 30 mins drive.
Fully aware these are not significant travel times for most people but in our circumstances with DS the extra time is a big jump.

Thank you.
There is a mobility clause but it only covers occasional work off site as part of the role.

Half an hour travel time is nothing. I'd just do the extra bit of travel.

Doesn't sound significant enough to be considered unreasonable travel time.

If there are similar roles available locally I'd be applying but staying in employment for now.

Union rep here. Reasonable travel is usually up to an hour. If there is no mobility clause then they will have to consult with you on the location move. If it’s likely to be more than an hour then it will become unsuitable.

I got offered redundancy when a company I worked for relocated but the new distance was about 50 miles, only reachable by car.

Have you put in a formal flexible working request or just asked informally? I’d suggest the former if you haven’t already, company can only refuse it for one of the eight statutory reasons and it may focus their minds on whether it genuinely would be feasible for you to wfh at least some of the time.

I would find another job.

They lack flexibility and I am surprised they won't even consider hybrid working.

I agree.

I'd stress that this was related to your son's disability.

And I'd point out that allowing some wfh, could be a compromise that would mean you would accept their contract variation.

Then if they dismissed me, id be able to demonstrate that I'd attempted to reach an agreement on the location move.

IANAL but that would be my strategy.

I thought you were going to say your travel time has gone from thirty minutes to 1.5 hours

Ten minutes to thirty minutes is a bit of an over reaction

YAB ridiculous op. 30 minutes is still a short commute.

There's no way you'll get relocation money or redundancy for that, and it wouldn't be worth the money thousands of pounds cost and upheaval to move.

This isn't a consideration. Company is relocating due to X reasons 20 minutes away. You extend your commute for 7 months of the year or resign. Ridiculous.

I see it's 30 minutes! It's fine. That's still a shortish commute.

Why don’t you just try it for a while and see how you all get on. It really is a very short commute, I only drive a bit less than that for milk!

You are insane to consider MOVING HOME?! for a 30 minute commute and good luck finding another otherwise good job within 10 minutes of where you live.
Make it work. It's half an hour. Nothing

Also your son (how old? Older than 13) might LIKE the reassurance of you being 10 minutes away but... Tough? Time to learn some resilience and that life doesn't always bend to you. Half hour is nothing. I say this as an autistic person who knows ND children who I also think need to learn to cope with the real world...

Different if it was increasing from one hour to three but 10 mins to 30 is ridiculous to complain about

You likely dont need to resign. Unless it us in your statement of particulars (contract) that you can be required to work at a location x km away from normal place of work they will have to make you redundant ... even if it is in your contract, it could be viewed as unreasonable given you've not done so throughout your employment