Employer forcing me to work from home

ross5678

My employer has recently decided to close my office and offer relocation or redundancy to most of the employees. In my case they have not put my role at risk but have told me I will become a homeworker.

This could potentially be a good move as I have a young family at home. However I have a few questions that I hope can be answered on here as to what I should be looking for in terms of assistance from my employer to enable me to work from home.

I have a 90 day consultation period where discussions will take place giving me the opportunity to negotiate, to a point, on terms of a new contract.

There are a number of extra costs I will incur, for example:

Heating and electricity
Setting up a home office - space, office furniture, stationery, computer equipment - printer, scanner etc.

I also only use my car currently to travel to and from work - as a family we would only need one car if I was working from home. However, my employer will be expecting me to travel to client sites on a weekly basis. It would be impractical to do this by public transport as these locations are often out of town. If I was to work from home, my sole purpose for keeping the car would be to travel to meet with clients.

My own view is that the employer should help with financial support to both set up and equip my home office - it will probably be a garden based home office type structure - and pay for internet access, phone and the additional electricity and heating costs. I also feel that they should offer either a company car or a car allowance, rather than simply a milage based expense as they offer currently.

What reasonable costs should I expect my employer to meet and what should I negotiate for?

Thanks...

anamenottaken

From where are you posting this evening? At home? From your armchair?

Your employer will need to do ensure an H&S assessment is done of your working arrangements.

ross5678

On the sofa currently. I think you're missing the point.

My employer is obliged to do a H&S assessment.

What I am asking for is an indication of what is reasonable to request given that I will be out of pocket as a result of this change which although will be beneficial to me, is being forced on me.

anamenottaken wrote: »

From where are you posting this evening? At home? From your armchair?

Your employer will need to do ensure an H&S assessment is done of your working arrangements.

marleyboy

It is something your home insurance will want to know about, it shouldn't effect your premiums, but any additional premium for running a business from home I imagine your employer should cover.

garybarlowforpresident

If you only travel to customer sites once a week, it is reasonable for the employer to provide mileage only - this includes an element for wear and tear, maintenance etc. If you attend daily, it would be reasonable to expect more.

It would be reasonable for the employer to provide you with a computer, printer etc, and a desk to work at. It would be reasonable to expect a contribution towards your utilities, telephone and internet costs, but in the latter two cases, only that above which you currently have. Alternatively, they could provide you with a separate telco/ internet line solely for work purposes.

As for expecting them to build you an office - dream on!

mummybearx

My dad works from home for part of his job, this happened after his local office shut down.

His work paid to have a phone and Internet line put in, they cover all costs for the running of these. They supply his computer, fax, printer and scanner, upgrading and replacing this all when required. They didn't build him an office, he has a computer table in the spare bedroom.

Depending on how often they would expect you to visit customers, a company car isn't too unreasonable. My dad has a company car, but that's cos he is out on jobs 3,4 sometimes 5 days a week.

Your situation seems like there is room for a lot of negotiation, depends really on what your employer wants to spend x

Edited - I don think his employers pay anything at all towards the electricity costs or heating costs, but this might be something that he negotiated into his salary when his role changed x

nearlyrich

I have worked in home based roles for over ten years, obviously the laptop and the mobile are provided by the company and I do qualify for a company car as I see customers most days. Previous companies ( I have worked for 3 in total) have paid for my office char and my printer and I used to have a separate phone line and internet connection.

I think the benefit of starting work without commuting is great.

getmore4less

Tell them the rent for space at home for an office will be £xxxx per week.

Any contract issues on locaton hat include home working

Have you done any work from home in the last few years and any this year.
(not good for any case that that there is no space)

Bottom line is they can't make you work from home but you need to put the case for redundancy as the work from home is not a suitable aletrnative.


if you do decide to go with the work form home get the contract changed to make sure they can't mess you about and relocate you later.

Make sure it does not stop you moving or being able to meet family commitments elsewhere(temp change of work location).



if you don't have the space for a proper work place at home think carefully.


The other thing to review is why you, what is it you have they need more than anyone else, how long will that reason last before they say bye bye.

snowcat53

The other potential downside of homeworking which should not be ignored is potential isolation and the loss of informal contact with colleagues, office chat, and networking. Talking on the phone is not the same!

garybarlowforpresident

getmore4less wrote: »

Tell them the rent for space at home for an office will be £xxxx per week.

And remember to declare this income to the tax man!

There are tax allowances for working from home, the OP should ask HMRC about this.

anamenottaken

ross5678 wrote: »

On the sofa currently. I think you're missing the point.

My employer is obliged to do a H&S assessment.

What I am asking for is an indication of what is reasonable to request given that I will be out of pocket as a result of this change which although will be beneficial to me, is being forced on me.

No, not missing the point. I was trying to establish whether you really need a shed in the garden in order to do the work.

If you are sitting on your sofa then I guess you are using a laptop (or smaller device) and maybe you need more space for a workstation if you don't have such an area now but I really don't see that an employer could be expected to provide more than a computer with printer, simple desk and office chair together with an internet connection (or upgrade to what you have) and cost of telephone calls.

If you are going to a client once a week then that doesn't justify more than simply paying you mileage at the standard rate as that should include a contribution towards maintenace and insurance as well as fuel. Your travelling time would also be work time and therefore you would be paid for that time rather than not being paid for commuting to work.

As an employer I would be prepared to pay something towards additional heating costs in the winter and lighting. Look at what your bills are now.

Do you walk to work now? If not, you need to think of the savings made in travel costs.