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Commuting costs vs others in team staying at home

LegacyUser

Hi,

I work in a small dept in a large company. My team consists of 11 full timers and a few contractors.

When Covid arrived we were all told to work from home from March, which was fine. I was told to come back early June full time which I did without a problem. Three other full timers are working with me in the office full time, coming into the office every day. These three have company cars/vans and fuel cards, so their commuting costs are covered. There are others in the greater team that are full time employees that only come in maybe once a week or once every two weeks, some have not come in at all since March. They all have private vehicles like myself.

My issue is, I'm the only full time employee with a private car that commutes in every day. Due to my position I'm required to be in the office every day. I have never been offered a company vehicle as its not really needed. I pay between €200 and €250 on fuel every month since coming back in June. Under normal circumstances our entire team would commute into work every day and I would not have a problem with my commuting costs as its just part of going to work, never had an issue as we were all on the same level playing ground.

But now, I feel like I'm taking a pay cut by coming into work, when the others in my team that are working from home effectively are getting a pay rise by not commuting.

Would I be an idiot to say something to my manager? Would it seem petty? I am just commuting to work, its expected of me, but the fact that I'm the ONLY full timer paying commuting costs, I AM down €200/€250 in comparison to others in the team that are working from home. It seems unfair.

I dont want to rock the boat but again I cant shake this feeling

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Mrs OBumble

OP move closer to your work. Or get a job closer to your home.

[Deleted User]

kenmm wrote: »

They didn't ask for pedantry and people to pick apart every little thing - but they got it anyway.

I gave some constructive advice to the OP - if you want a moan or argument - go to your own thread - don't start on me I can't be ars3d and won't reply further to your BS.

Easy tiger, I’m responding to the fact that the op feels short changed because he/she is being asked to come to work as normal and feels he should be entitled to something for doing that. I don’t think a box of fruit is what the op had in mind. I didn’t want to go into the BIK, but another poster rightly brought it up.

blackbox

I wouldn't ask for a rise, but I might try to make a case to WFH for one or two days per week.

EmptyTree

Dav010 wrote: »

Giving an employee a 2k pay rise and not others who the employer is preventing from attending the office isn’t treating all employees fairly. On the other hand, what is negotiated in your contract of employment, like attending for work and remuneration is indeed your business, hence why everyone is not paid the same for the same job.

If your company gave a wage increase to all sales people who worked outside the office, and not all staff who work in the office, you would have a problem with this.

This is exactly what is/was happening in some companies. The sales people would be exposed to potential increased risk of picking up the virus as they are being asked by the company to interact with other people either in the office or elsewhere and so they are remunerated for this. People who WFH are not faced with the same potential risk.

dubrov

Wildly Boaring wrote:

A company vehicle would have full whack BIK if only used to commute. You could regret even getting it.

That makes no sense. It's like saying you might regret a payrise as you may be taxed on it

_Brian

Suck it up.
Your commute costs are no worry of your employer and what other employees are doing is really none of your business.

Yes you can ask but they aren’t compelled to give you anything.

ted1

Cycle or get public transport

[Deleted User]

ted1 wrote: »

Cycle or get public transport

Nobody should even consider getting public transport these days if they can help it.

KaneToad

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Don’t let them get too lazy on it because them sitting at home will also be adding to your workload.

How do you jump to that conclusion??

KaneToad

ted1 wrote: »

Cycle or get public transport

Not that simple. Not everyone can cycle; physical limitations, distance too great, have to drop/collect kids.

Also not everyone has a public transport option. There are workplaces/homes outside of Dublin.

[Deleted User]

KaneToad wrote: »

How do you jump to that conclusion??

They’re part of the same team being less productive. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to get there.

ted1

KaneToad wrote: »

Not that simple. Not everyone can cycle; physical limitations, distance too great, have to drop/collect kids.

Also not everyone has a public transport option. There are workplaces/homes outside of Dublin.

Not everyone can, but many can

[Deleted User]

Dav010 wrote: »

I don’t think the op is asking for a fruit basket, the op is asking to be remunerated for travelling to work.

I think the OP is asking to be treated fairly compared to their peers. The issue of commuting costs is a red herring, though the OP may not have worked this out yet. The OP mentions that others in the wider team haven't been brought back to the office yet.

The real issue is why some people have been called back to the office, and others haven't. Is there any rational basis for this?

I'm guessing that this is some kind of sales team or tech support team, with most others on the team being 'on the road' and hence having company vehicles. The OP may well be in some kind of support role that doesn't require a vehicle.

The OP would have a better case in comparing to the others in the wider team who haven't been recalled to the office.

If the OP is in a union, this would be a good time to get them involved. If they're not in a union, this would be a good time to think about being in a union.

[Deleted User]

KaneToad wrote: »

Not that simple. Not everyone can cycle; physical limitations, distance too great, have to drop/collect kids.

It is true to say that not everyone can cycle, but it is also true to say that lots of people with physical limitations can cycle. For some people, their bike is their mobility aid. Lots of parents use cargo bikes or little bikes clamped to the adult bike to cycle with their kids. Or they just cycle with their kids, using some of the new segregated cycling facilities appearing weekly. eBikes, trikes, cargo bikes provide lots of options here for people. eBikes in particular are a big help to those who need a bit of extra oomph to cycle, or to cycle longer distances.

https://twitter.com/SilkeRichard/status/1271844709519024128

KaneToad wrote: »

Also not everyone has a public transport option. There are workplaces/homes outside of Dublin.

There is public transport outside of Dublin.

backspacer

Your commuting costs are irrelevant in this case, these are the agreed terms you chose to work under prior to COVID 19 and haven't changed at all.

In a time of economic uncertainty like this, I don't see how it's a good thing to rock the boat asking for anything like this.

[Deleted User]

backspacer wrote: »

Your commuting costs are irrelevant in this case, these are the agreed terms you chose to work under prior to COVID 19 and haven't changed at all.

In a time of economic uncertainty like this, I don't see how it's a good thing to rock the boat asking for anything like this.

While they’re not entitled to more money they’re entitled to ask for some help from the ones sitting at home scratching themselves.

[Deleted User]

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

I think the OP is asking to be treated fairly compared to their peers. .

Attending for work doesn’t equate to being treated unfairly as long as your employer is compliant return to work protocols. I would suspect the rationale for everyone not being back is social distancing.

tscul32

If the other employees happened to live within a 10 minute walk of the office would you still feel hard done by? Their commuting costs or lack thereof really should have no bearing on how you feel about your own costs.

[Deleted User]

tscul32 wrote: »

If the other employees happened to live within a 10 minute walk of the office would you still feel hard done by? Their commuting costs or lack thereof really should have no bearing on how you feel about your own costs.

I’d want them pulling their weight regardless of where they live, or I’d want reimbursed properly for doing the work of a “team”.

[Deleted User]

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I’d want them pulling their weight regardless of where they live, or I’d want reimbursed properly for doing the work of a “team”.

I get the sense from the op that this an issue about money, the op feels he/she is taking a pay cut by travelling to and from work while others are at home. Maybe I missed it, was the op saying those wfh aren’t pulling their weight?

GreeBo

Op has your boss given an explanation why only some staff are forced to come into the office?

I think that's your starting point, if you start the conversation with your hand out you will hit a brick wall imo.

ahnowbrowncow

dubrov wrote: »

That makes no sense. It's like saying you might regret a payrise as you may be taxed on it

It makes sense as their take home pay could be heavily diminished because of the BIK and the company car may be of little benefit to them as they already have a car.

bucketybuck

Jim2007 wrote: »

But your circumstances have not changed at all.

Jim2007 wrote: »

The company has not changed it in terms of payroll, so it makes no difference.

Well, they kinda have changed.

Contracts may be agreed individually but lets be honest, they are always based on outside factors and thats why you hear people talking about the market rate. Well the market rate has changed for everybody except the OP, he is correct that the others working from home have effectively had a big change in their terms and conditions, largely to their advantage.

So while the company hasn't done anything wrong and the OP is no worse off than he was previously, parameters have changed and I see no problem with him recognizing that. If I was in his shoes I would be having a chat with the boss as well.

[Deleted User]

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

It makes sense as their take home pay could be heavily diminished because of the BIK and the company car may be of little benefit to them as they already have a car.

Maybe the wfh employees are salty that they are being taxed on a benefit they can’t use because they are at home.

ahnowbrowncow

Dav010 wrote: »

Maybe the wfh employees are salty that they are being taxed on a benefit they can’t use because they are at home.

Maybe but the person you quoted had a valid point.

[Deleted User]

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

Maybe but the person you quoted had a valid point.

I agree, the op feels he is being short changed by having to travel to work, he isn’t, the wfh colleagues might say it is equally unfair they are being taxed on something they can’t use, it isn’t.

stayback

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

It makes sense as their take home pay could be heavily diminished because of the BIK and the company car may be of little benefit to them as they already have a car.

Revenue have said that you can use whatever business miles you done in January for the period of the lockdown. This will help anyone with BIK issues like myself.

KaneToad

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

There is public transport outside of Dublin.

True. But often not viable for commuting to work.
How would one get from Mullingar (pop 20,000) to Navan (pop 30,000), a modest distance of 52km and a 45min drive?

Connection to Dublin is good from our large urban areas. But connection between these areas is often non existent.

KaneToad

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

They’re part of the same team being less productive. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to get there.

Working remotely does not equate to working less.

C3PO

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

While they’re not entitled to more money they’re entitled to ask for some help from the ones sitting at home scratching themselves.

The evidence is that most people are at least as productive working from home - what do you base that statement on?