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Can an employer force employees to change to work from home

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    #62
    Firblog
    Registered Users Posts: 2,037 ✭✭✭Firblog


    What if your employer told you you had to use your private car for their business and wouldn't pay you any milage.. how can people think the employer isn't taking the piss?


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    #63
    krissovo
    Registered Users Posts: 2,645 ✭✭✭krissovo


    Firblog wrote: »
    What if your employer told you you had to use your private car for their business and wouldn't pay you any milage.. how can people think the employer isn't taking the piss?

    Apples and oranges and not a great comparison, a car is a depreciating asset that has short useful life and high wear and tear. A home as history shows appreciates typically in value even after recessions and has a lifespan of 50 to say 200 years. Your home might need a lick of paint or a new carpet every 5 years from being used for work but your car will need fuel, tyres and maintenance.

    If you want to limit your opportunities in the employment pool then fair play to those that choose that option especially as the recession will really start limiting office based employment opportunities quite quickly. Work from home is finally a serious option for the majority in Ireland, it has a positive effect on your financials through tax savings, transport costs and child minding costs. It also has a positive effect on your work/life balance.

    Adapt or die is slogan being branded around the business community right now. Time for the employees to rethink their strategies.


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    #64
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 29,078 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    krissovo wrote: »
    Apples and oranges and not a great comparison, a car is a depreciating asset that has short useful life and high wear and tear. A home as history shows appreciates typically in value even after recessions and has a lifespan of 50 to say 200 years. Your home might need a lick of paint or a new carpet every 5 years from being used for work but your car will need fuel, tyres and maintenance.

    If you want to limit your opportunities in the employment pool then fair play to those that choose that option especially as the recession will really start limiting office based employment opportunities quite quickly. Work from home is finally a serious option for the majority in Ireland, it has a positive effect on your financials through tax savings, transport costs and child minding costs. It also has a positive effect on your work/life balance.

    Adapt or die is slogan being branded around the business community right now. Time for the employees to rethink their strategies.
    Your home needs to be heated, this week more than last week. You don't save on transport costs if you have an annual bus ticket, or a bike, or if you walk or run to work. Work from home is not a substitute for child-minding. If employers are requiring people to work from home, they need to pay for the costs involved.

    Most people were happy to be flexible in an emergency situation, but this is now becoming a business-as-usual situation - so the associated costs are adding up.


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    #65
    krissovo
    Registered Users Posts: 2,645 ✭✭✭krissovo


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    Your home needs to be heated, this week more than last week. You don't save on transport costs if you have an annual bus ticket, or a bike, or if you walk or run to work. Work from home is not a substitute for child-minding. If employers are requiring people to work from home, they need to pay for the costs involved.

    Most people were happy to be flexible in an emergency situation, but this is now becoming a business-as-usual situation - so the associated costs are adding up.

    Work from home can be a substitute for child care, I augment mine normally with family when needed. I start work normally at 7am and work with teams in India, I get the kids ready for school at 08:30 and I am back to work at 09:30. I collect the kids at 3pm, make dinner sort them out and I start back at work at 7 or 8 pm for an hour which works well as our management teams are in the States.

    Heating the home....This is a joke right?


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    #66
    SteM
    Registered Users Posts: 6,729 ✭✭✭SteM


    Connavar wrote: »
    Thanks everyone. Have a meeting with hr about it next week and just wanted to go in with a bit more knowledge.
    I wont be staying in the company if this is enforced so kind of feels like constructive dismissal to me but I know that is a big stretch.
    The idea of working in one of the shared office spaces is interesting but honestly if they arent paying for it I will be better off just moving on.

    Did you have this meeting? Interested to hear if there was a satisfactory outcome for you.


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    #67
    Stheno
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 51,688 Mod ✭✭✭✭Stheno


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    Your home needs to be heated, this week more than last week. You don't save on transport costs if you have an annual bus ticket, or a bike, or if you walk or run to work. Work from home is not a substitute for child-minding. If employers are requiring people to work from home, they need to pay for the costs involved.

    How do you not save on transport costs if you have an annual ticket?

    I didn't renew mine last time round and I'm saving about 800 a year as a result


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    #68
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 29,078 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    krissovo wrote: »
    Work from home can be a substitute for child care, I augment mine normally with family when needed. I start work normally at 7am and work with teams in India, I get the kids ready for school at 08:30 and I am back to work at 09:30. I collect the kids at 3pm, make dinner sort them out and I start back at work at 7 or 8 pm for an hour which works well as our management teams are in the States.

    Heating the home....This is a joke right?

    This might be a surprise, but what works for you doesn't work for everybody. We can't build a system around what works for you. People have different numbers of kids with different needs. People have different numbers of partners with different jobs and different needs. People have different kinds of jobs with different needs and different levels of flexibility about timing of attendance.

    And no, heating the home is far from a joke. Last week was OK but March and April were not OK. I was running the heating far more than normal to be anything near comfortable in the house. This is a direct additional cost arising from working from home.


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    #69
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 29,078 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    Stheno wrote: »
    How do you not save on transport costs if you have an annual ticket?

    I didn't renew mine last time round and I'm saving about 800 a year as a result
    Because if you've already renewed, then you've already paid for the year - so no saving, at least until it comes to renewal date.


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    #70
    JayRoc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,613 ✭✭✭JayRoc


    krissovo wrote: »
    Work from home can be a substitute for child care, I augment mine normally with family when needed. I start work normally at 7am and work with teams in India, I get the kids ready for school at 08:30 and I am back to work at 09:30. I collect the kids at 3pm, make dinner sort them out and I start back at work at 7 or 8 pm for an hour which works well as our management teams are in the States.

    Heating the home....This is a joke right?

    If I worked from home my heating costs would literally double. (Edit: I have a PAYG meter so it's easy to estimate with reasonable accuracy, during non-summer months being home all day compared to being out at work costs 2-3 euro a day extra. Probably about 80 quid a month)


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    #71
    JimsAlterEgo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,917 ✭✭✭JimsAlterEgo


    if you require a specialist chair or foot rest, are you withing your right to ask your employer to provide for home as well as office?


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    #72
    Stheno
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 51,688 Mod ✭✭✭✭Stheno


    JimsAlterEgo wrote: »
    if you require a specialist chair or foot rest, are you withing your right to ask your employer to provide for home as well as office?

    I dont see why not


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    #73
    Connavar
    Registered Users Posts: 849 ✭✭✭Connavar


    SteM wrote: »
    Did you have this meeting? Interested to hear if there was a satisfactory outcome for you.
    It ended up being one of those meetings that doesnt really answer anything. Too many questions were answered with we dont know yet to see what is going to happen


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    #74
    salonfire
    Registered Users Posts: 3,078 ✭✭✭salonfire


    It is possible to claim tax relief of 10% of heating and broadband from Revenue.


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    #75
    Firblog
    Registered Users Posts: 2,037 ✭✭✭Firblog


    krissovo wrote: »
    Apples and oranges and not a great comparison, a car is a depreciating asset that has short useful life and high wear and tear. A home as history shows appreciates typically in value even after recessions and has a lifespan of 50 to say 200 years. Your home might need a lick of paint or a new carpet every 5 years from being used for work but your car will need fuel, tyres and maintenance.

    There are plenty of vacant/derelict houses about that aren't worth much now.

    As for only needing a lick of paint or new carpet every now and then? The house my parents have lived in for 60 years

    - 2 new sets of windows & doors, (wooden single -> double -> triple glazed)
    - 1 new roof
    - 1 new heating system - oil burner, plumbing & rads
    - heating system upgrade - new oil burner & rads
    - 1 electrical system - totally rewired
    - 1 new insulation

    That's a fair bit more than a lick of aul paint and a bit of carpet every 5 years.


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    #76
    krissovo
    Registered Users Posts: 2,645 ✭✭✭krissovo


    Firblog wrote: »
    There are plenty of vacant/derelict houses about that aren't worth much now.

    As for only needing a lick of paint or new carpet every now and then? The house my parents have lived in for 60 years

    - 2 new sets of windows & doors, (wooden single -> double -> triple glazed)
    - 1 new roof
    - 1 new heating system - oil burner, plumbing & rads
    - heating system upgrade - new oil burner & rads
    - 1 electrical system - totally rewired
    - 1 new insulation

    That's a fair bit more than a lick of aul paint and a bit of carpet every 5 years.

    They must have been early pioneers of working from home!


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    #77
    ednwireland
    Registered Users Posts: 14,400 ✭✭✭✭ednwireland


    suggested today to our managers today that they might want to think about buying desks for people if they dont have them.

    they are going to raise it with the exec board so heres hoping (im fine i have an office, desk and chair at home)

    My weather

    https://www.ecowitt.net/home/share?authorize=96CT1F



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    #78
    Firblog
    Registered Users Posts: 2,037 ✭✭✭Firblog


    krissovo wrote: »
    They must have been early pioneers of working from home!

    Not at all, but it does kinda show up how silly your statement about houses only needing a lick of paint and bit of carpet every few years was.

    On a personal note, I'll have to replace my gas boiler this year, after using it very lightly (no more than 5000hrs over 10 years) can you imagine how quickly it would have had to be replaced if it would have had to have been on an extra eight hrs per day every cold day over those 10 years?


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