Reply to: Would a permie do your commute?

[LondonManc]

I've had permie commutes I've hated, others have been great. Same for contracts. Never worried about a contract commute because I can simply not extend if I don't like it.

[NibblyPig]

Many do, it's a 1hr commute sometimes 1hr20 if traffic is bad.

But I have friends that are still working at my first ever job 5 years ago earning about £3000/year more than when they started on a graduate salary.

If there's one thing I've learned is that there are a lot of people out there who have no ambition and will put up with any old crap as long as their company gives them a cake on their birthday and a pat on the head now and then, maybe a bone shaped biscuit.

So to answer your question, yes they would, but no-one on here that was ambitious enough to become a contractor would.

[kettlebellBA]

current commute c 2 hrs each way, but trains are quiet and it doesnt involve london faffing.

A permie consultant would do my current commute

A permie at clientco would NOT - they dont pay the best so travel costs would consume far too much of their salary.

[SpontaneousOrder]

I totally disagree that it's an edge case, I can't think of a single project I've delivered in the last decade where there weren't multiple permies on remote deployment and expensing extensively. I did 2 years at BAE where 90% of the three thousand or so permies were on expensed secondment from other areas of the country.
As you've accepted it's irrelevant if they're contractor or permanent there are people working on client sites for extended periods on T&S expenses, it's incredibly common in the large IT consultancies in all functions outside of BAU support and it's not unknown in BAU either for that matter.

The poll IS meaningless and increasingly so, there are hundreds of thousands of permies working on projects and client sites charging at least as much if not considerably more T&S than we do as contractors.

At the same time, that situation is incredibly rare in the projects I've worked on in the last decade.

[SpontaneousOrder]

I've been both permy and contract currently permy scum and my commute is the longest I have ever had 1.5hrs each way a good day 30mins walk and 1hr tube, if I was a contractor I wouldn't do it, but good permy jobs on ok £ are hard to find so I suck it up.

I've done over 3 hours each way before. WOuldn't do it as a permie without the T&S relief.

[NotAllThere]

I totally disagree that it's an edge case, I can't think of a single project I've delivered in the last decade where there weren't multiple permies on remote deployment and expensing extensively. I did 2 years at BAE where 90% of the three thousand or so permies were on expensed secondment from other areas of the country.
As you've accepted it's irrelevant if they're contractor or permanent there are people working on client sites for extended periods on T&S expenses, it's incredibly common in the large IT consultancies in all functions outside of BAU support and it's not unknown in BAU either for that matter.

The poll IS meaningless and increasingly so, there are hundreds of thousands of permies working on projects and client sites charging at least as much if not considerably more T&S than we do as contractors.

Permie consultants do indeed do a lot of commuting. However, most (permie) IT workers are not consultants, hence while it might not be an edge case, it is nonetheless a minority.

While many permies would love to do the commute I do now (20 mins door to door with 10 min tram ride), they certainly wouldn't have been happy to do the commutes I used to do, which involved staying away from home during the week. Very few permies, consultant or otherwise, would want to work long commutes if the expenses were not met by their company. I used to commute, as a permie, 180° of the M25. 3 hours on the road each day. But I would not have done that if I'd not had a company car with fuel provided. And a swutting massive salary.

[ELBBUBKUNPS]

I've been both permy and contract currently permy scum and my commute is the longest I have ever had 1.5hrs each way a good day 30mins walk and 1hr tube, if I was a contractor I wouldn't do it, but good permy jobs on ok £ are hard to find so I suck it up.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Depends on the permie, stupid question.

He said that it's very subjective. I think it's a valid question - for example *almost* no permie would do mine, whereas it's par for the course for many contractors.

[vwdan]

Yes - I guess so. I'm currently commuting about an hour and it costs about £80 on the train. When I was a permie, I commuted for just over an hour and used to budget £300pcm for the commute.

I doubt they would for this roles permie salary though..!

[SandyD]

I dipped in and out of permie / contracting, used to live in an area which had hardly any jobs in my area, so whenever I went permie I chose to work for a consultancy which would pay for my T&S while working away on a project.

[mudskipper]

Some permies do do it. The guy who sits opposite me lives in Lichfield and stays down during the week. But it's not the norm for permies.

[Pherlopolus]

I alternate between my clients client site in the city and WFH.

A Permie would do it on expenses paid for by client, I have to cover the expenses/travel costs and not travel in work time.

I wouldn't do it as a permie though, (unless take home was same as a contractor, in which case the question is irrelevant)

[BolshieBastard]

I live 80.6 miles each way (according to the car) door to door from my current client. Ive just found a permie who lives near me drives in every day!

I dont know what grade they are but they must be a second line manager to make that commute worthwhile (although they do get to WFH 1 day a week).

[Contreras]

The intent of the poll is to find out how many of us work away from home or have prohibitively expensive travel which is only worthwhile on a contractor rate, as discussions about possible changes to expenses ramble on.

Your poll is invalid without an AndyW option.

[TykeMerc]

I was interested since some contractors were saying proposed changes re:expenses would make their contracts non-viable, what proportion of contractors work in that fashion. If it's a small minority of us who pay £100+/day for travel/accommodation, or closer to half, etc.

Which wasn't the question you asked in the poll.........