travelling for meetings for work

isplumm

Hi,

If the OP is not happy about the travelling then I suggest they have a few optiions:

1. Put up with it,
2. Look for another job & move
3. Refuse to do as they are asked - risk getting fired as not been there a year
4. Complain to HR - assuming there is one?
5. ???

Mark

DVardysShadow

invisibleyousee wrote: »

Thank you to those who understand where I'm coming from - I know some people have a large commute every day but for the most part they choose to do that. My step-father has 1.5 hour commute each way to work but he chooses to do this because the pay is so much better there.

For me, I'm earning 16k pre-tax a year (so not a huge amount) - and I wouldn't have left my previous job for this one if I'd known this would be the situation. I'm not trying to whine or go "poor me", I'm asking for advice on what I should do and where I stand in this situation, because I don't really know who I should talk to when my line-manager is basically part of the problem. If I'd chosen a job that I knew was going to have this much travelling in my own time, I wouldn't have taken it, simple as that.

Hmm, time to raise a grievance and cite the conversation at interview? With the number of offices, your boss is not the big cheese, so it may be that there is some sense higher up? But go through your boss first.

Red_Elle

invisibleyousee wrote: »

Thank you to those who understand where I'm coming from - I know some people have a large commute every day but for the most part they choose to do that. My step-father has 1.5 hour commute each way to work but he chooses to do this because the pay is so much better there.

For me, I'm earning 16k pre-tax a year (so not a huge amount) - and I wouldn't have left my previous job for this one if I'd known this would be the situation. I'm not trying to whine or go "poor me", I'm asking for advice on what I should do and where I stand in this situation, because I don't really know who I should talk to when my line-manager is basically part of the problem. If I'd chosen a job that I knew was going to have this much travelling in my own time, I wouldn't have taken it, simple as that.

Is there a HR team?
You have few rights if you've been employed less than a year.
Are there other jobs in the area?
Sounds as though the company isn't that suited to you anyway, so have you thought about looking for another job?

invisibleyousee

Yes there is a HR team, so I think I need to do some research into who to speak to there about it.

I'm not sure what rights I have when I've not been here a year?

Other jobs - not in this type of field or anything loosely related to it. There have been a lot of big closures in this area so even the customer service/shop assisant/sales jobs are scarce.

This company is a massive company and I'd always heard good things about them as an employer in the past :-(

Red_Elle

invisibleyousee wrote: »

Yes there is a HR team, so I think I need to do some research into who to speak to there about it.

I'm not sure what rights I have when I've not been here a year?

Other jobs - not in this type of field or anything loosely related to it. There have been a lot of big closures in this area so even the customer service/shop assisant/sales jobs are scarce.

This company is a massive company and I'd always heard good things about them as an employer in the past :-(

Well they are not necessarily a bad company; just a company that doesn't suit you. You were either mislead at interview or there was a misunderstanding.
In big companies issues can be as a result of the Manager and not the company as a whole.
I would arrange a confidential meeting with HR and explain your concerns to them. Don't make any points personal, just state the facts:

You were told you place of work was such and such, but occasional travel would be involved.
You do not feel the amount of travel at present is occasional.
You told them at interview why you were leaving your last role.

I'd also mention that you like working there and don't want to leave and ask if there are other more suitable positions for you.

If you get no joy, then you have no alternative but to look for something else.

vax2002

You are employed from the second you start under the servitude of your master.
If you were to gestate at passing motorists from this company van whilst travelling in this unpaid time, would you be disciplined or would they say you were not at work until 8 ?
They can have one.
They can have the other
But they can not have both.

invisibleyousee

Thank you Red_Elle - that's a big help :-)

invisibleyousee

vax2002 wrote: »

You are employed from the second you start under the servitude of your master.
If you were to gestate at passing motorists from this company van whilst travelling in this unpaid time, would you be disciplined or would they say you were not at work until 8 ?
They can have one.
They can have the other
But they can not have both.

We aren't allowed to use these vans for any personal use, they are only for work use - I had this thought the other day too! They're saying I have to travel to work and home in my own time - but I'm not allowed to stop for a bite to eat, or via a friends, or via a supermarket for the groceries or anything in this van (if it were my own vehicle then I would make the most of already being "out" and would go via a friends on the way home etc).

So they seem to want the cherry and the bun - they want it to be in our own time, but it isn't really our own time because the company van can only be used for work!

scheming_gypsy

that raises a question then.. is it a company van that you take home and pay tax on, or is it a pool van that you collect from work and then go on site?

vax2002

Is the van tracked ?
A lot of people would be very shocked if they knew the extent of secret tracking of works vehicles, its offered as a option on most fleet hire vehicles these days.