Remote Working & Commute

Whiterose23

I’ve worked for my employer for many years, full time, currently one or two days a week in the office which is 60 miles away so I’m used to commuting.

I want to return to my home town 280 miles away for personal/family reasons and have asked for remote working with office visits for a few days at a time.
My manager is keen to support this and has indicated that the company would cover hotel costs but has asked how often I would be able to come to the office. Whether I will be allowed to do this will depend on being signed off by the CEO, which I’m confident will happen if I can agree a reasonable arrangement with my manager. I’m not sure what to suggest… I think once a month might be too much, but don’t want to seem uncommitted. Does anyone else have similar arrangements and could offer advice? Changing jobs is a last resort as I don’t want to give up the benefits of my current role. Thank you.

born_again

Once a week to match what you do now.


All a manager "Indicating" may mean nothing when it gets further up the chain & costs are looked at.

Many of our staff moved further away during covid, nothing was ever mention of any return to the office, so many never asked the question & contracts never changed.
Now a 60/40 hybrid is in place, they are not happy that company are telling them that this is the policy & they have to abide. So come into office 3 days a week.

Whiterose23

born_again said:

Once a week to match what you do now.


All a manager "Indicating" may mean nothing when it gets further up the chain & costs are looked at.

Many of our staff moved further away during covid, nothing was ever mention of any return to the office, so many never asked the question & contracts never changed.
Now a 60/40 hybrid is in place, they are not happy that company are telling them that this is the policy & they have to abide. So come into office 3 days a week.

I’m very confident I will get the go-ahead as costs have already been considered and approved in terms of hotel accommodation and there is already a small percentage of the workforce who already have a similar arrangement in place.
My question is more to do with how often I should suggest commuting at that distance.

born_again

As I said same as now, or you may find a lot of resentment from your fellow workers.

Undervalued

Whiterose23 said:

I’ve worked for my employer for many years, full time, currently one or two days a week in the office which is 60 miles away so I’m used to commuting.

I want to return to my home town 280 miles away for personal/family reasons and have asked for remote working with office visits for a few days at a time.
My manager is keen to support this and has indicated that the company would cover hotel costs but has asked how often I would be able to come to the office. Whether I will be allowed to do this will depend on being signed off by the CEO, which I’m confident will happen if I can agree a reasonable arrangement with my manager. I’m not sure what to suggest… I think once a month might be too much, but don’t want to seem uncommitted. Does anyone else have similar arrangements and could offer advice? Changing jobs is a last resort as I don’t want to give up the benefits of my current role. Thank you.

If you are currently in the office "one or two days a week" you would need a pretty convincing reason to convince them that less than a quarter of this (i.e. once a month might be too much) would work just as well from their point of view.

Obviously it all depends on how unique your skills are. Rightly or wrongly many firms are trying to reduce the amount of remote working.

Either way you need to try and "sell" them the advantages (if there are any) rather that rely on their loyalty to you for personal / family reasons.

Whiterose23

born_again said:

As I said same as now, or you may find a lot of resentment from your fellow workers.

Unfortunately that is clearly not possible from a distance of 280 miles. And as I’ve already pointed out, this arrangement isn’t entirely unusual in our workforce and there is already a variety of different arrangements for office attendance based on other people’s circumstances/positions. I have a solid reason that is easily justifiable and my coworkers are aware and fully supportive.
Clearly you are not a supporter of homeworking or flexibility but it works for many, including the company I work for.

badmemory

Would 2 (possibly long) days a fortnight (or 3 weeks) work  A lot of it may depend on who you need to interact with in person.  I am surprised that they are talking about paying for hotels though.  That suggests to me that you are the only one who can do something & that they think they may have a problem replacing you if you decide to leave but do need you there in person at times.

Whiterose23

Undervalued said:

Whiterose23 said:

I’ve worked for my employer for many years, full time, currently one or two days a week in the office which is 60 miles away so I’m used to commuting.

I want to return to my home town 280 miles away for personal/family reasons and have asked for remote working with office visits for a few days at a time.
My manager is keen to support this and has indicated that the company would cover hotel costs but has asked how often I would be able to come to the office. Whether I will be allowed to do this will depend on being signed off by the CEO, which I’m confident will happen if I can agree a reasonable arrangement with my manager. I’m not sure what to suggest… I think once a month might be too much, but don’t want to seem uncommitted. Does anyone else have similar arrangements and could offer advice? Changing jobs is a last resort as I don’t want to give up the benefits of my current role. Thank you.

If you are currently in the office "one or two days a week" you would need a pretty convincing reason to convince them that less than a quarter of this (i.e. once a month might be too much) would work just as well from their point of view.

Obviously it all depends on how unique your skills are. Rightly or wrongly many firms are trying to reduce the amount of remote working.

Either way you need to try and "sell" them the advantages (if there are any) rather that rely on their loyalty to you for personal / family reasons.

Thank you for your response. My job is entirely cloud-based and all our meetings apart from company briefings twice a year are held via Teams.

Obviously they would of course prefer everyone to be in each week, but seeing as there are a variety of arrangements across the workforce, including people whose skills are easily replaceable, and who don’t attend the office more than three or four times a year, I don’t think this would be refused. I’m more interested in opinions on what would be sensible attendance from a commuting POV.
I’m lucky in that they’ve already expressed a desire to work something out for me based on my loyalty, skillset and value to the company.

Whiterose23

badmemory said:

Would 2 (possibly long) days a fortnight (or 3 weeks) work  A lot of it may depend on who you need to interact with in person.  I am surprised that they are talking about paying for hotels though.  That suggests to me that you are the only one who can do something & that they think they may have a problem replacing you if you decide to leave but do need you there in person at times.

Thank you for your response. I do have a unique position although I do know I could be replaced as I guess we all could, but they value my experience and extensive knowledge of the company. I don’t have any need for face to face interaction as such. I do have a very small team though, which is a sticking point for me, although currently we only cross paths now and again due to the flexibility allowed around our attendance. They are fully supportive of my situation.
I was thinking once a month for 2 or three days…

Isthisforreal99

Has your employer consider the taxation implications of paying for you to stay over night on what is now an extended commute to work.

Whiterose23

Isthisforreal99 said:

Has your employer consider the taxation implications of paying for you to stay over night on what is now an extended commute to work.

Yes :-).

Strange how everyone is so hung up on the fact I may be switching to a remote working/commuting job rather than helping with my question which is about the practicalities of remote/office working.