Employment problems ....help please.

lermit

I used to work in an office provided by my employer. This was quite expensive so after some comments from managers, I suggested that we take over my flatmates room as a home office. This has been fully paid for by the company for a significant amount of time: 14 months or so.

My contract is clear that an office will be provided to me, however when cost became an issue I showed willing and assisted them in cutting the costs in half. They then wanted me to take over the cost of the office, and to reimburse me with a pay rise, though not sufficient to cover the full costs.

I have now been pulled aside in 10+ meetings and harried to accept this. I have stated that my contract is clear in that it specifically says a place of work will be provided to me. This has been the case for 3 years 3 months, so custom and practice is clearly set.

I have just this week had my annual appraisal and have good feedback. After the appraisal, my manager placed their proposed contract in front of me and said this was their proposed new contract, and I had 7 days to accept. If I dont do this they said my contract would be withdrawn, and a new revised one issued. ie they either think, or want me to think I have no choice.

My contract states clearly that it cannot be altered unless agreed in writing by both sides. It is clear the new contract would just be a mod to my existing contract (very few changes) so I dont accept this.

My appraisals are excellent, my work is excellent, and I am highly motivated (and determined to stay this way), however Im not sure how to proceed.

As a side issue, the company is after a number of years now turning a profit (not been the case for a while) so the bad climate is not a valid reason for saving money. also I have had no pay rise for 3 years.

I dont believe in automatic pay rises, however find a pay cut hard to stomach.

Any thoughts?

DVardysShadow

Your strongest argument is probably that if the office is not provided on expenses but on salary, it becomes taxable as income.

If you can find a comparable job, it is probably worth taking the deal for the time being, to increase your headline salary.