Hi all
I wondered if I may get some opinions on my situation below.
Myself and a colleague (who lives local to me) took on a contract which is located the best part of a 2 hour drive from home. We took the contract on the basis of slightly shortened hours and car sharing everyday to keep the costs down, otherwise it's not worth the money you see. Now we both turned down local work for this so that we could help these people out of a jam.
So, the first month or so was fine as our job entailed being out on the road meeting people and helping them out etc (no we aren't The AA!) with go live support on a new system. From about a month in my colleague started getting sent elsewhere which meant that we both had to drive (we're talking £30 day travel costs in diesel here). We let it slide for a while but the last week or two we've started being given jobs which we weren't brought in to do. Now to start with this was fine, we said ok as a favour, and not to come across as picky and immature for want of a better word.
Now this extra work we've been given is all stuff we could do from home (all Visio project maps etc etc) so the line manager agreed we could work from home given that we'd each have an extra 4 hours a day to work in without the travelling. Now this caused the usual issues with perm staff and now the line manager's asking us to go in everyday to do stuff we can do at home just as well, and without the journey.
So, we've politely put it to the manager today that it's better for us IR35 wise to be working at home on this, that it's a long journey to do just to work on the same thing we can at home, and also that they did agree that we could do this already. We did also say that we are obviously more than happy to go out and about and travel to do the job we were originally brought in to do, but not this extra work that is all office oriented.
Now I can see this causing problems when the line manager replies tomorrow and I know they're desperate for us to stay there. We've also politely put it to them that this contract, which is due for extension at the end of March, may not be so attractive if we have to trek for 4 hours a day to the office to do a job we weren't brought in to do and that one of the still available local contracts would likely suit better.
If you guys were in my / our position, what would your stance be?
Thanks all!
I wondered if I may get some opinions on my situation below.
Myself and a colleague (who lives local to me) took on a contract which is located the best part of a 2 hour drive from home. We took the contract on the basis of slightly shortened hours and car sharing everyday to keep the costs down, otherwise it's not worth the money you see. Now we both turned down local work for this so that we could help these people out of a jam.
So, the first month or so was fine as our job entailed being out on the road meeting people and helping them out etc (no we aren't The AA!) with go live support on a new system. From about a month in my colleague started getting sent elsewhere which meant that we both had to drive (we're talking £30 day travel costs in diesel here). We let it slide for a while but the last week or two we've started being given jobs which we weren't brought in to do. Now to start with this was fine, we said ok as a favour, and not to come across as picky and immature for want of a better word.
Now this extra work we've been given is all stuff we could do from home (all Visio project maps etc etc) so the line manager agreed we could work from home given that we'd each have an extra 4 hours a day to work in without the travelling. Now this caused the usual issues with perm staff and now the line manager's asking us to go in everyday to do stuff we can do at home just as well, and without the journey.
So, we've politely put it to the manager today that it's better for us IR35 wise to be working at home on this, that it's a long journey to do just to work on the same thing we can at home, and also that they did agree that we could do this already. We did also say that we are obviously more than happy to go out and about and travel to do the job we were originally brought in to do, but not this extra work that is all office oriented.
Now I can see this causing problems when the line manager replies tomorrow and I know they're desperate for us to stay there. We've also politely put it to them that this contract, which is due for extension at the end of March, may not be so attractive if we have to trek for 4 hours a day to the office to do a job we weren't brought in to do and that one of the still available local contracts would likely suit better.
If you guys were in my / our position, what would your stance be?
Thanks all!
Listen, unless your current contract states you must be at your desk 9-5, 5 days a week, you are entitled to work where you like. I always take the view that the client has no right to complain to me unless a deliverable is late. 
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