Employer wants to move be off base for months

PasturesNew

What have you got against it? I've worked away from home on a similar basis, having been "mis-sold" the job too. I was told that the job was "on client premises a lot, but we like to get everybody back in the office before Fridays" - and then I ended up 400 miles away.

I travelled up there on Sunday evenings and back on Friday nights. At first they told me it'd be 3 days/week on site, but then I was stuck there 3 weeks in a row..... and it ended up going on for 4 months, through the winter too (not great driving across country 400 miles in the dark/wet)

It wasn't ideal .... and at the end of that they then wanted me to repeat that at another town 400 miles away.... so I quit then.

But I gave it a go!

easy

Skag, I understand that you are upset, and see that you were "mis-sold" the job. It sounds like communication difficulties between the manager and HR to me, a mistake made by one side or the other. Which is unfortunate.
But what do you actually expect your employer to do about it? They have a role which they have chosen you for, but which is away from London. I'm guessing they don't currently have a role for you in London.

I suggest that the best they could do (if they were inclined) would be to consider you first next time they have a role come up in London, but they now have some unfortunate knowledge - If they choose you for the next role that comes in London, once that role is ended, you are not flexible to go to the next contract they get - unless it's in London. So in reality they may be disinclined to consider you again.

Unless you have a REALLY good reason to avoid working away (such as being a carer) then I suggest you consider doing it.
There is a life outside London you know, most of us manage to live here perfectly happily

shashijhamb

if one ic unable to due to unavoidable circumstances he should never think for the same

Skag

easy wrote: »

Skag, I understand that you are upset, and see that you were "mis-sold" the job. It sounds like communication difficulties between the manager and HR to me, a mistake made by one side or the other. Which is unfortunate.
But what do you actually expect your employer to do about it? They have a role which they have chosen you for, but which is away from London. I'm guessing they don't currently have a role for you in London.

I suggest that the best they could do (if they were inclined) would be to consider you first next time they have a role come up in London, but they now have some unfortunate knowledge - If they choose you for the next role that comes in London, once that role is ended, you are not flexible to go to the next contract they get - unless it's in London. So in reality they may be disinclined to consider you again.

Unless you have a REALLY good reason to avoid working away (such as being a carer) then I suggest you consider doing it.
There is a life outside London you know, most of us manage to live here perfectly happily

Easy, I've lived outside of London for 10 years I know how the life is, and it was my choice to go live in London. Maybe that's even the reason I don't want to live outside again? But that's a different conversation. I'm quite happy here. Nothing against other cities. If anything, since the company is paying for everything, I would benefit from London's salary and having everything else paid for me.

Having said that, the company is rather huge, and has clients all over London, UK and the world. I've already been communicated that there are other roles, in different clients, and also similar roles which I could be a fit too. So there are options. Also, I communicated with HR and said that there are other roles coming up in London, so there should be something for me there.

The OP was to assess whether one is stuck, should this situation happens.

Finally, you're right in thinking that they might be disinclined to consider me in the future, though I think that's a combination of skills and attitude. I wouldn't rush to reach conclusions, I think that would be immature from either side.

Skag

PasturesNew wrote: »

What have you got against it? I've worked away from home on a similar basis, having been "mis-sold" the job too. I was told that the job was "on client premises a lot, but we like to get everybody back in the office before Fridays" - and then I ended up 400 miles away.

I travelled up there on Sunday evenings and back on Friday nights. At first they told me it'd be 3 days/week on site, but then I was stuck there 3 weeks in a row..... and it ended up going on for 4 months, through the winter too (not great driving across country 400 miles in the dark/wet)

It wasn't ideal .... and at the end of that they then wanted me to repeat that at another town 400 miles away.... so I quit then.

But I gave it a go!

I'm old enough and mature enough to assess whether I'll be happy or not in a given job. Some people know themselves better than others do. To avoid making such mistakes as you describe and ended up frustrated and quit, I try to do all the due diligence upfront. Thanks for sharing your experience though!

FBaby

Problem is, unexpected changes happened, so just like your contract states, the expectation was that you would be based in London, hence confirmation, but that you had to be prepared the unlikely event that an unexpected event meant you would need to take on another project. Unfortunately for you, the unexpected event did happen.

I do feel for you, if I were you, I'd be livid at the circumstances, but that doesn't mean they did anything wrong.