Travelling in own time to courses/meetings?

poorlittlefish

I recently started a job and found out that I will regularly be having to travel (using my own vehicle) to courses and meetings that are 4-5 hours' drive from the office (often at least once per week). Some last a full day, so that's 7.5 hours' work followed by a 4-hour drive home, or vice versa when required to stay in a hotel the night before. There was no mention of travel or overnight stays in the job offer or contract, neither does the staff handbook/intranet say anything about whether journeys have to be made on top of working contracted hours.

Is it common place to expect employees to use their own time to travel to work-related events? I ask because I had flexi in previous roles and travel time would be included in the hours shown on time sheets, meaning that anything in excess of contracted hours could be taken as time off in lieu.

bap98189

The answer is - it depends. It depends on the employer, your contract, their policies and the job itself.

If you are a CEO earning 60k then you are likely to be expected to work all sorts of hours and get on with it. If you are on minimum wage then tell them to go jump.

You need to talk to your line manager and find out what is expected.

DKLS

Fairly common in salaried roles.

Ask your line manager about their policy, also ask about mileage rates, parking, maximum hotel spend, meal/beer allowance etc.

Dan-Dan

any outing that requires a 4 hour drive there and a 4 hour drive back , with a full days work in between , should really be carried out with an overnight stay , for the benefit of everyone involved

Horace

Also check with your insurance company too because you would need to advise them if you are using your car for business purposes (which you are by driving to courses and meetings).

An alternative would be to submit expenses for train travel to the meetings/courses if you are not insured to use your own car.