Working from Home Contract Location 26 April 2022 at 8:12PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 9 replies 441 views

Tuscan9

Hi, I've gone through an interview process with the agreement that a new permanent job I'll be taking is on a remote basis with the occasional travel into the office (once every 2-3 weeks). However now that I've received the contract, the "location of work" in the contracts states the company's offices (90 miles away), "unless otherwise agreed by your manager."

Would I be correct in saying that If i got an email in writing that the role will indeed be based out of my home office with the occasional travel to the office, this legally may be enough to satisfy the "unless... " part of the contract, making it a legally binding remote position? Any advice is much appreciated! 

Marcon

Tuscan9 said:

Hi, I've gone through an interview process with the agreement that a new permanent job I'll be taking is on a remote basis with the occasional travel into the office (once every 2-3 weeks). However now that I've received the contract, the "location of work" in the contracts states the company's offices (90 miles away), "unless otherwise agreed by your manager."

Would I be correct in saying that If i got an email in writing that the role will indeed be based out of my home office with the occasional travel to the office, this legally may be enough to satisfy the "unless... " part of the contract, making it a legally binding remote position? Any advice is much appreciated! 

I'd ask for that to be incorporated into the contract 'for clarity'.

Jillanddy

If the contract arrived after the email, I would suggest that it's murky, as they could have rescinded the agreement previously made. I would ask for the contract to be changed to reflect what you agreed.

Ath_Wat

I might in this case - some may disagree - point out that the only reason I was taking the job was because working from home was available and that of course, if that became unavailable, I would resign.  Any sensible company should obviously have no interest in taking you on only to have you resign straight away, so they should either be wiling to give you assurances you require or, if they do want someone in the office all the time, rescind the offer - which I presume you would prefer to having to commute 90 miles each way every day.

mcpitman

Tuscan9 said:

Hi, I've gone through an interview process with the agreement that a new permanent job I'll be taking is on a remote basis with the occasional travel into the office (once every 2-3 weeks). However now that I've received the contract, the "location of work" in the contracts states the company's offices (90 miles away), "unless otherwise agreed by your manager."

Would I be correct in saying that If i got an email in writing that the role will indeed be based out of my home office with the occasional travel to the office, this legally may be enough to satisfy the "unless... " part of the contract, making it a legally binding remote position? Any advice is much appreciated! 

You either need a formal written agreement with your manager/HR department or your contract adjusting to reflect you are a "Home Based" worker.

I have seen informal arrangements work really well before, but also become quite abrasive if the employee and manager have a different view of work location/notice to get to a meeting.

katiepoppycat

I would want to get this clarified.  In a previous role I had a colleague who had been told she was going to be based at site A, which was 15 miles from her home, and she might have to do a couple of days a week at site B which was another 45 miles on top.  Her contract came in and she had been based at site B.  In reality, she worked mostly at site A, but it meant that she could never claim the mileage for the 2 days a week working at Site B and it cost her a fortune in fuel.  If you are home based they have to pay for trips to the office, if you are office based, they don't. 

Ath_Wat

katiepoppycat said:

I would want to get this clarified.  In a previous role I had a colleague who had been told she was going to be based at site A, which was 15 miles from her home, and she might have to do a couple of days a week at site B which was another 45 miles on top.  Her contract came in and she had been based at site B.  In reality, she worked mostly at site A, but it meant that she could never claim the mileage for the 2 days a week working at Site B and it cost her a fortune in fuel.  If you are home based they have to pay for trips to the office, if you are office based, they don't. 

They don't have to do anything of the sort.  It would depend on your contract.

400ixl

Some organisations do not have official home working classifications and all roles are office based with the discretion of the business unit to have hybrid working.

As others have mentioned you will also want to get clarification on whether you can claim expenses for travel to your designated office if that is going to be a concern. There are ways around this if they do not, for example if they have other offices that you would not need to go to, have one of those assigned as your home office which makes the one you have to travel to one you can expense.

I would get a confirmation that the role is a hybrid role and that you will mainly be based from home. Obviously the business will always have the right to change that ratio in the future to meet the business needs. 

Undervalued

400ixl said:

Some organisations do not have official home working classifications and all roles are office based with the discretion of the business unit to have hybrid working.

As others have mentioned you will also want to get clarification on whether you can claim expenses for travel to your designated office if that is going to be a concern. There are ways around this if they do not, for example if they have other offices that you would not need to go to, have one of those assigned as your home office which makes the one you have to travel to one you can expense.

I would get a confirmation that the role is a hybrid role and that you will mainly be based from home. Obviously the business will always have the right to change that ratio in the future to meet the business needs. 

Indeed.

In the first two years, almost regardless of what is agreed, the employer can unilaterally change the terms and effectively say "take it or leave". Even after that it is usually fairly easy to come up with "business reasons" which are often difficult to challenge.

So, to some extent is is a judgement call. Is the employer happy and willing to agree or are they just doing so with the intention of forcing a change a bit further down the line?

Tuscan9

Thanks very much for your advice everyone! I contacted them to enquire about the job location in the contract and suggested I wouldn't want to be commuting 2 hours each way very often and they came back saying although the contracts haven't been formally updated yet, they have no intention of making remote workers come into the office more than 1-2 times a month, and this will be formally agreed. Having already taken on remote employees a greater distance away than myself, I'm confident it will be fine. Thanks again