Travel to meeting on work time?

[Webbit]

Hi, my attendance was required at a meeting in one of our regional offices today and as I was driving back at 2:30 I thought is this really part of my working day or should I be making up the time lost in the car?

I work the 9-5 in London, catch the train to work and have plenty of meetings in my office but today I drove 2.5hrs north, left early (ish) this morning and got there for 10 and left at 2, home by 5 (some traffic). It's an hours commute from my home so hitting the office at 6 seemed pointless (it's usually deserted by 5 anyway).

What does the office working PH crowd do? I've plenty of time in my non-paid (and appreciated ha) overtime piggy bank to cover this mind.

No one said anything, rang my boss at 2 to catch up and said "I'm done here, see you tomorrow", she hasn't really got a sense of humour and doesn't really show emotions so can't work out if I'm in the wrong. Did fire off a few emails when i got home tho

Cheers,
Matt

[Stupeo]

Depends on your employer.

Mine says travelling is not included in working time..but they don't take the piss. For example, yesterday I had a 300 mile drive for a meeting..5.5 hours travelling so I only worked a couple of hours in the morning. Which I think is fair.

But, isn't there some EU law about it all? A colleague told me about it.

[davepoth]

I used to work on the basis of if the meeting was late enough to mean I could be in the office for an hour in the morning I would go in, and if it finished early enough to mean I could get back to the office in the afternoon I would go back to the office. It never sounded like I was taking the piss by being at home at 4pm.

[Webbit]

Cool, that's how I thought it should be (not taking the piss)

[The Leaper]

I think it all depends on the attitude of your employer.

For over 30 years I did a lot of travelling during and outside of normal working hours and never gave a thought to whether or not I was working a short or long day. As long as the job was done, the clients were content, my employer would be happy...and so was I.

Mind you, when not travelling, I'd be in the office from 06:30 to around 19:00 most days.

R.

[R12HCO]

My manager had a 8 oclock meeting with a customer (we are in the midlands and these guys are up north yorkshire), so set off at 5.30 am from his house, had the meeting, back to work for 1 then stayed untill 6.

Another company who we deal with are very different. They are a major multinational company who make them things in the sky move with their product. If you are out of the office after a certain time in the afternoon, i think its 2, your are not expected to go back to work. Coincedently, we have alot of dinner time meetings!

[Mr POD]

R12HCO said:

My manager had a 8 oclock meeting with a customer (we are in the midlands and these guys are up north yorkshire), so set off at 5.30 am from his house, had the meeting, back to work for 1 then stayed untill 6.

Another company who we deal with are very different. They are a major multinational company who make them things in the sky move with their product. If you are out of the office after a certain time in the afternoon, i think its 2, your are not expected to go back to work. Coincedently, we have alot of dinner time meetings!

Rolls Royce by chance ?

I'm contracting for a similar major multinational company who make them things in the sky move with their product, who happen to be based in Derby, and Bristol.

They appear to have put alot of thought into the Health and Safety of Travelling and working.


I worked for a small multinational company (200 in Runcorn and 1000 in the USA) and I basically did what I wanted with travel.

I like to have Early Meetings, so I'd leave at 5am and get to my meeting at 8, finish at 12, have lunch, Drive home, for 4.30.

So instead of leaving for the office at 7.30 and getting home at 6.30, I'd actually given the company a whole half hour of my time.

[Mojooo]

If I work 9-5 and during those hours I travel 3 hours in a car then those 3 hours are counted as work time and not 'made up' in the office at a later time - no question.

If might be fair to take off your normal offie to home time though

So if you finish meeting at 2. Take 4 hours to get home. It would be fair to say you finished work at 5.30 (if it takes you 30 mins normally to get home).

[TurricanII]

I used to visit clients for a job and am now a boss. Driving to and from your regular place of work should be on your time so you start work at 9am. Any time spent driving to site is IMO paid or rewarded with a day off or half day off. An employee setting off from home at 9am to go to a meeting would catch my attention.. I think it's fair to expect people to set off at the same time they would every normal workday.

[rog007]

Common sense and decency should drive behaviours, both of the employee and employer. in these types of situations. If it's all about how many hours you should work then iy would be best to have a policy and contract in place so everyone knows where they stand. If however it's the outcomes that are more important, then giving staff the flexibility and trust to make the right call based upon the desired outcomes should be the order of the day; you are all adults afterall!