Home office split?

CinderKona

Hello,
My new job's original spec stated that it would be 'Home working with odd occasion in office'. Given the office is 70 miles away what kind of split would that likely to be? I know it's a matter of opinion but even once a week might be a little to often I'd have thought.
Thanks.

Thrugelmir

You were aware of the location of the office when you accepted the role.  WFH requires give and take for it to work successfully. If your employer requires you to be in the office expect to be summoned without exception. 

Marcon

Have you accepted the role? If not, time to ensure clarity in the contract. If you have, then time to ensure clarity by asking your new employer. 

74jax

The actual wording is 'odd occasion in office'? 

TELLIT01

This should have been checked at the time of interview, or when the job offer was received.  The only people who can say how often travel to the office will be required is the employer.  What is the exact wording of the contract?

Grumpy_chap

CinderKona said:

Hello,
My new job's original spec stated that it would be 'Home working with odd occasion in office'. Given the office is 70 miles away what kind of split would that likely to be? I know it's a matter of opinion but even once a week might be a little to often I'd have thought.
Thanks.

As is so often the case, there is a large part of this where the devil is in the detail.

It sounds like you have recently started at this new job, so the time to negotiate how much is WFH and how much is office is passed.  You also don't want to risk being perceived as awkward as the new starter.  

Before COVID, I had a job that was 70 miles each way commute and I did that daily, so it is certainly not out of the question that the employer will eventually require you to be in the office more than once a week.  It is not just distance that affects how easy that is to do but also the mode of transport and travel time.  My 70 mile commute was 1 hour 10 minutes by car (each way).  A similar distance by high speed rail may be less than an hour.  A similar distance by bus would probably be impracticable.

Is the reference to 'Home working with odd occasion in the office' what was in the job advert, or the formal detail of the employment contract?  

Is the job one that would normally (pre-COVID) be fully office based, or a role that would normally have been home-based (e.g. sales representative)?

I hope that helps - I realise it is comment and questions but no definitive answer, but there is only limited information shared and more detail would be needed to get towards a definitive answer (but even then, the employer's expectations are the key factor).

Ultimately, if you have you be in the office full time, is that achievable for you?

CinderKona

Thanks all for the feedback very useful.

The role is homebased - as is my role now. I said at the interview that I also have to be occasionally in the office in my current role and that to me meant 1 batch of 3 days per month. I did initially turned the role down as I said it was not practical for me to be in the office daily so they offered me a home based role with occasionally in the office. 
Any travelling to the office is fully paid.

Barny1979

Fully paid? So your mileage costs are covered?

CinderKona

Yes they are.

Thrugelmir

How long could the commute potentially be? 

CinderKona

70 there 70 back. All up the M1.