My company is relocating - what are other people's experiences of this?

[zoejeanne]

Hi, yesterday my employers announced that the office will be relocating and I?d really appreciate your experiences of office moves. We?ve been asked to submit any questions and queries to the senior management team ? of which I have plenty ? but before I do, I?d like to know what would be considered reasonable and what would be unreasonable. The full background is below (and apologies as it?s a bit long).

The theory behind the move is a good one ? partner organisations and clients will be on our doorstep and the majority of staff live in that area.

I?m in the minority who lives further away, and in the past I have deliberately avoided job hunting in this city as I feel it is too great a commute, however I enjoy my job and would prefer to work out a way to stay in it than to leave. I live out in the countryside, which I love and accept that to live here I will need to commute. My current commute is 40 miles/50 minutes, and the new one will almost double, which is a daunting prospect.

Currently, the company has no policy for flexible hours or working from home and has refused requests in the past (although they are happy for us to do this on an ad hoc basis). From my point of view, if there could be flexibility on start/end times to the working day and/or a working from home option then this would make my life a lot easier and would allow me to not have to consider leaving.

I want to phrase my questions around this, but positively and offering some ?give? as well as ?take? (from others experiences, those who just ask don?t get treated with the same sympathy as those who offer flexibility in return), so how should I put this? Also, have I the right to ask for financial compensation to cover the increased costs of getting to work? The company has a relocation policy for those living beyond a certain distance, which I do, but I don?t want to move house. Can anyone suggest the best way to put my questions to my boss so I can get the best possible outcome?

Thanks for your help (and for your patience in reading this essay!)

Bumping for you.

bumping to see if anyone can advise (and thanks puzzlerocks).

Thank you!

I applaud your 'want to give as well as take' attitude, but actually, they are taking in terms of making your commute so much longer and more inconvenient, so asking for some take back isn't unreasonable.

The 'give' you would be offering is your willingness to cooperate. They will be expecting lots of fuss and questions about things that you mention, so don't feel guilty for raising perfectly valid points. It's not as if you are going to them cold with a request to alter your hours, there's a bit more of a context.

Put your questions in writing, pretty much as you phrased them in your OP. Explain that your commute will double and say that if there could be the potential for some flexibility in start/end times and/or the possibility to sometimes work from home, this would reduce the negative impact of the move for you and many others.

You can also ask about funding the additional cost of the commute. It's a perfectly valid question. You don't have the right to it, but some companies offer to pay additional travel costs, often for a set period of time, and sometimes decreasing over time. Expenses for your normal commute to work are a taxable benefit though.

Is there a union or any kind of staff forum? Coordinating the questions asked and asking them as a group is a good idea if you can as well.

Thanks so much for your advice, glad to hear I (hopefully) won't be be considered awkward for asking these questions!

What I forgot to add is that I'm on maternity leave at the moment, so my boss me to email my questions to HR and copy her in - so it will be in writing. HR will then do a general response to common questions, plus individuals if needed - hopefully I won't be the only one with these concerns.

You've given me the confidence to go ahead and write the email now - thank you!

TBH I think that an 80 mile/1h40 commute is totally loony and that you shouldn't even contemplate it. Either you move house or move job.

Me too Anna (and that round trip is current one - it will double to 150 miles and 4 hours round trip!!) Moving house isn't an option (we love the house, the village, proximity to friends and family etc) so I'll try first to see if I can negociate some flexibilty/working from home so I can keep the job too.

If you can work from home for 4/5 days, perhaps. But seriously - how will you manage life if you have to travel that much? I wouldn't do it in my dreams.

I just love our life where we live 10 minutes from all the children's schools, 25 minutes from DP's work and 5 minutes and 15 minutes from my 2 part-time jobs.

Blimey, 5 mins and 15 mins from jobs sounds fantastic, I don't know anyone lucky enough to live that close to where they work.

I think an hour commute is fairly tolerable really, as an alternative to living in a shed in central London anyway, or similar.

Sounds as though equivalent jobs just aren't an option where you live OP, so as always, it's a compromise. I think if you can negotiate something that involves help with/reducing the commute, or doing it less often, it's definitely worth a shot, particularly in this economic climate, if it means you can keep your job.

Flowerybeanbag you've hit the nail on the head. I live out in the countryside and therefore have to travel to find jobs in my line of work. I enjoy my job (and at the moment I would be scared about leaving in case something else didn't come up), but do I enjoy it enough to burden myself with that commute? I think the answer is to negociate and give myself 6 months ish to get used to it, or to decide I can't handle it. What I think I'd regret most is just not giving it the chance.

Thanks for your comments, they've really helped me work out what I think I want. Fingers crossed that they'll be accomodating to my requests!