Remote work, asked to cover office, commute is work time?

[dibbers006]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 07 November 2023 at 13:20

[NDA]

dibbers006 said:

Contract is Remote.

Asked to cover for office staff.

Do you commute on your own time so as to begin working at your usual start time, or begin your commute based on your working hours, i.e usual work day -commute time?

I know what I would consider reasonable from both sides of the fence, but what happens when the commute is 2+ hrs for example.

I would imagine the time would start when you arrive at the office for work.

Did you respond to their request? If your contract is remote, it would not be unreasonable to charge extra hours and the cost of coming in.

[AndyAudi]

Interestingly I’ve found myself in a similar situation, but a little more than a drive. I’m flying a few hundred miles for a handover.

This time (& previous trips) I’ll travel so as get to office as near as normal start time as possible & leave end of day. I’ll bill my Flight/airport parking but not my time travelling.

Think It depends a bit on what you do/how much you earn/how you wish to be perceived.

If it was short term I might be tempted to ask to take a day off In lieu for extra hours involved commuting for say a week. For some reason I always think folks are more ok with that kinda thing than someone asking for a few hours paid. O/T.

[airsafari87]

With the cover being for office staff I would expect the start and finish time in the office to be the same as their hours.

If your contract is for remote working only I would expect to be paid or receive time in lieu for the travelling time plus any travel expenses incurred.

[dibblecorse]

Depends how petty you want to be and how that may be perceived.

You are being asked to demonstrate some flexibility, that will gain you goodwill if undertaken graciously, if I asked this of one of my team I would gladly meet travel costs, allow a reasonable expensed lunch and they would work a normal days hours, I would not expect to have to compensate for travel time.

99% of remote contracts will have a clause saying that at times you may need to attend the office.

[dci]

Remote worker here..

On the occasions that I am asked into the office (1 & 1/2 hours drive) I am asked to be there for 10:00am and leave at approximately 15:30. This is based on an 8:30 - 17:00 working day and was at the request of my manager.

We have company vehicles and any fuel used to commute to the office is generously reimbursed. Back when I was making the trip once a week I was actually making money on traveling to the office.