Office Move - What are my rights?

EatingGlitter

Hiya,

Long time lurker here.

Just a brief question really...my business is currently over several sites. I work in a small office and there is another office around 40 miles away.

The majority of people in my office and the other office live between the two, whereas I live another 10/20 miles in the opposite direction.

I don't drive and currently get the train to work at a cost of around £100 pcm.

They've announced we are moving to a new office by where the other office is. Basically means that my hour/half an hour commute in the morning will become about a 2 hour commute each way and my train fare will treble.

It will effectively cancel out any pay increases/promotions I have ever had since starting.

Apparently it'd been on the cards for a while, including when I was hired, but nobody told us and when it was originally told to us we were told that we could potentially work from home.

This has now since been retracted (not before I kitted out my home office mind!).

Do I have any rights? I've got the typical standard gumph in my contract about "We may ask you to move to another office blah blah blah" but I am really finding it hard to comprehend having to do the same job, to pay more to travel, to travel much more and see my family/home less.

And then another part of me is like, well you have a job!

Argh, don't know what to do at the moment.

paddedjohn

I think you will find that you will either have to move to the new office or find a new job nearer to home.

Jarndyce

EatingGlitter wrote: »

Do I have any rights? I've got the typical standard gumph in my contract about "We may ask you to move to another office blah blah blah" but I am really finding it hard to comprehend having to do the same job, to pay more to travel, to travel much more and see my family/home less.

Actually the very bit you have dismissed as standard gumph and blah-blah'd out is almost certainly the answer to the question. What does it actually say? If it lets them transfer you then yes they can transfer you!

19lottie82

sorry, this isn't much help to your actual problem, but can i ask........ is learnign to drive and getting a car not an option? surely it would make things A LOT easier?

EatingGlitter

19lottie82 wrote: »

sorry, this isn't much help to your actual problem, but can i ask........ is learnign to drive and getting a car not an option? surely it would make things A LOT easier?

I would be inclined to agree but the route that I would have to take has three/four seriously difficult areas of traffic and is renown for getting blocked up. I wouldn't necessarily save any money/time this way either.

I thought as much with the rest of it. Will grin and bare it for now but I just wish they had hinted to me when I came to the job this could happen.

magenta22

When I was working for one company who decided to move offices up North, the options basically were;

1, relocate to new office - move to the area, they would give you a very small relocation amount.

2, they had another small office nearby where a handful of jobs were being moved to - all were managers roles!

3, Redundancy

I went for one job once where an office move was on the cards, they mentioned this in the interview and said they didn't know where it would be. I didn't take the job.

Do you know when they will be planning to move? Can you look for a job closer in the meantime?

claire16c

I would start looking for a new job. If a train journey will take you 2 hours to get there when its on time, imagine how long it will take when there are delays or problems.

I used to do an hour and a half journey, made up of a 25 min train and then an 8 min one, and then a bus and getting to and from the station in the first place. Sometimes it would take me 2-3 hours if something went wrong. Im never doing it again.

skater_kat

yes 2 hours both ways is do-able but pretty hellish. wouldn't want to do it long term. i'd look for a new job if i were you.

getmore4less

What exactly do the mobility clauses say.

They are not blanket tough luck clauses they just extend what is reasonable for a job move to be considered a suitable alternative.

Problem is you might not have been there long(how long?) so redundancy might not help, so you need to work on a deal.

Time to reopen negotiations on working from home.

Depending on how long you have been there how easy you are to replace and your feeling for te people a good old moan about not being told this might happen might work, did for me but then that move was not possible with a longer commute midlands to scotland, got a year working from home/on site to before I had to find something different.

This is a bit risky where the commute is viable.

Is there a travelodge or similar nearby the office

With 4 hours and train costs this may be an option if you can negotiate a bit of flexable working do extra hours evening and mornig of an overnight to travel at non peak hours other days.

skintandscared_2

The company have the right to trade from whatever premises they choose. You have the right to look for another job if you don't want to move with them!