TUPE – change from office to working from home
Discussion
Hi everyone,
A friend of mine works for a small business that's part of a larger company. Her section of the business (only 3 full-time employees) has just been sold to another company.
The friend of mine has been told that she's a company asset and will move with the sale – I think under TUPE. She was told she has no decision to make re: redundancy, because there's no option for that – she moves to the new company and that's that.
She was told she'd have the same contract and terms at the new company. However, she's just been told that there's actually no office for the new company and she'd have to work from home full-time.
Is the company allowed to do that? Obviously she's going to find it a hardship working from home when she's used to being motivated and socialising with her co-workers.
Appreciate your thoughts!
A friend of mine works for a small business that's part of a larger company. Her section of the business (only 3 full-time employees) has just been sold to another company.
The friend of mine has been told that she's a company asset and will move with the sale – I think under TUPE. She was told she has no decision to make re: redundancy, because there's no option for that – she moves to the new company and that's that.
She was told she'd have the same contract and terms at the new company. However, she's just been told that there's actually no office for the new company and she'd have to work from home full-time.
Is the company allowed to do that? Obviously she's going to find it a hardship working from home when she's used to being motivated and socialising with her co-workers.
Appreciate your thoughts!
Working from home is great but you need discipline. Otherwise you end up working far too many hours.
You can get lots of work done plus tedious house stuff such as washing that requires 2 minutes loading and 5 minutes unloading but a long period n the middle.
Worked from home every Friday for years, saves all those crappy tasks on the weekend. On the minus side tend to start around 6 when i get up. Finish around 6 when the email slows off.
Still would be the same amount of time once you include my commute so a win for me and the company.
Currently on long term leave and housebound pretty much after spinal surgery. The being alone isn't fun and does require adjustment.
You can get lots of work done plus tedious house stuff such as washing that requires 2 minutes loading and 5 minutes unloading but a long period n the middle.
Worked from home every Friday for years, saves all those crappy tasks on the weekend. On the minus side tend to start around 6 when i get up. Finish around 6 when the email slows off.
Still would be the same amount of time once you include my commute so a win for me and the company.
Currently on long term leave and housebound pretty much after spinal surgery. The being alone isn't fun and does require adjustment.
WFF isn't for everyone. Unless I am missing some detail I am amazed that an employer assumes it's OK for people to WFH. I worked for a forward thinking IT company in the 90s. They introduced a WFH option largely to encourage skilled females back into work after starting a family. The company would assess the employees home for suitability, mostly safety and availability appropriate working space. They would install a suitable desk, proper chair, printer and desktop and small filing cabinet. HR used to worry about people working too long hours!
I'm not sure they can 'make' you work from home - your home might be wholly unsuitable. What if you have a large family at home with a few young children for instance. You may not have a suitable place to work from your home may already be full and you don't want to give up space for all the other paraphernalia that comes with working from home like business phone line/broadband a printer filing cabinet etc.
What about paying for all your power, heat and light during working hours. Where you work now are the refreshments free? Boiling a kettle several times a day etc will add up to quite a lot during a year. Guess what I'm saying is make sure you are suitably rewarded for the use of your home.
Let us know
What about paying for all your power, heat and light during working hours. Where you work now are the refreshments free? Boiling a kettle several times a day etc will add up to quite a lot during a year. Guess what I'm saying is make sure you are suitably rewarded for the use of your home.
Let us know
elanfan said:
I'm not sure they can 'make' you work from home - your home might be wholly unsuitable. What if you have a large family at home with a few young children for instance. You may not have a suitable place to work from your home may already be full and you don't want to give up space for all the other paraphernalia that comes with working from home like business phone line/broadband a printer filing cabinet etc.
What about paying for all your power, heat and light during working hours. Where you work now are the refreshments free? Boiling a kettle several times a day etc will add up to quite a lot during a year. Guess what I'm saying is make sure you are suitably rewarded for the use of your home.
Let us know
You're right, working from home is not suitable for everyone, particularly if the home can't accommodate it, as you do need some proper space set aside to allow you to work efficientlyWhat about paying for all your power, heat and light during working hours. Where you work now are the refreshments free? Boiling a kettle several times a day etc will add up to quite a lot during a year. Guess what I'm saying is make sure you are suitably rewarded for the use of your home.
Let us know
The cost issue however sounds a bit petty, as most people will end up saving money as they won't have to pay for fuel/train/bus to get to work, which is likely to cost more than making a few cups of tea each day. There may also be a significant time saving, giving you a significant part of your day back, which was previously spent travelling.
Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't employers supposed to pay for the energy that staff use while working from home? I was told they are. If so then you're quids in as you've eradicated your commuting costs and get back the chunk of life you'd otherwise spend on the road too. Seems like a far better situation to have in a TUPE scenario than being moved to another company that might be further away, thus leaving you with a longer (and therefore more expensive) commute.
I work from home full-time and have for 18 months or so. Started doing 3 days a week at home and 2 in the Office a little before that through my own choice to help with dropping my daughter off at nursery and picking her up. Was fortunate really that it worked out, because not long after my employer relocated from a 25 mile round trip to the Office to over a 100 mile round trip and they had no issues with me going 5 days a week at home. Sometimes it's 6-8 weeks before I visit the Office now and it takes some getting used to having to go out. The benefits (no travel costs, much more home/family time) to me outweigh the cons (not necessarily feeling part of a team/company etc), but as said, it does take discipline otherwise you end up working many more hours and unfortunately, I always feel I have to do more to justify to others (not my Line Manager) that I am actually working and it's not just a jolly! To be honest, I haven't asked for and don't receive any contribution to my internet access or gas/elec and with the money saved on what would be a 500 mile a week commute they are a drop in the ocean anyway.
MitchT said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't employers supposed to pay for the energy that staff use while working from home? I was told they are. If so then you're quids in as you've eradicated your commuting costs and get back the chunk of life you'd otherwise spend on the road too. Seems like a far better situation to have in a TUPE scenario than being moved to another company that might be further away, thus leaving you with a longer (and therefore more expensive) commute.
There's no necessity for the employer to pay for the employee's energy costs.The employee can claim some tax back though.
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