The Work Thread 2 - Get back to work!

[Jenuall]

Yeah that's a bit gooseberry fool. I'd be inclined to take them up on the offer and get the hell out of there if I was one of those people.

What a great way to engender loyalty and a sense of recognition amongst your staff!

Im not one thankfully, Im pretty happy here but I can see why people would be upset, the company is growing pretty fast and with that theres growing pains. If I was sitting on the fence that comment would firmly push me off and away Id go.

Yeah it's the kind of response that is just going to erode confidence in anyone who is even close to wavering. Why stick around if that's how you are seen? Why give your best if the company thinks you are essentially disposable?

Even if it's a true statement (I've no idea if it is in this context!) it's not the way to communicate!

Well it is true in most instances, very few people are completely irreplaceable, work will continue and people will fill in the gaps if anyone left, thats a natural part of any workplace really. But for HR to actually come out and say it is baffling, surely their whole reaosn for existing is to make people feel like they are valued and important and special? Real good way to kill morale in no time at all.

Well it's true to an extent, but there is always a degree of cost (be it financial, performance, timescales, risk etc.) to replacing people - the seemingly blasé nature that it's being expressed there makes it sound like they think people can be swapped in with virtually no risk or cost.

So yeah, not a good message to be coming out of HR!

[DarkRula]

"You're all just chickens in a coop, doing what we want. And if you don't, it's off to the chop shop and into a pie."
I think that sums up that statement from HR.

What a harsh thing to say to any complaints about satisfaction.

[Moggy]

"You're all just chickens in a coop, doing what we want. And if you don't, it's off to the chop shop and into a pie."
I think that sums up that statement from HR.

What a harsh thing to say to any complaints about satisfaction.

I never understand why companies send out employee satisfaction surveys and then get pissy when they don’t like the answer. Why bother asking the staff if you don’t want an honest answer?

[Jenuall]

"You're all just chickens in a coop, doing what we want. And if you don't, it's off to the chop shop and into a pie."
I think that sums up that statement from HR.

What a harsh thing to say to any complaints about satisfaction.

I never understand why companies send out employee satisfaction surveys and then get pissy when they don’t like the answer. Why bother asking the staff if you don’t want an honest answer?

You'll probably find that someone or some group of people have an objective or target associated with satisfaction feedback results - "Achieve 80+% on staff satisfaction survey etc."

Basically someone is only doing the survey because it benefits them and by giving an honest answer they've probably lost out on a bonus.

[Green Gecko]

That's a pretty shocking statement to come from an HR department, indeed not somewhere I would want to work.

[Preezy]

Has anyone called HR out for that comment? I'd be raising it with my manager regardless of if I was happy or unhappy at the place.

[That's not a growth]

We had HR complain that too many people were using the customer car parks while ago via email, to 'allstaff'. One of the owners son replied all and said these emails were too frequent, and question what HR was really going to do. Apparently the CEO had a very stern word with him.

And I've been personally yelled at by my manager saying if I'm not happy with things I should just quit, so an email like the one from that other workplace doesn't really seem that far-fetched to me, unfortunately.

[Godzilla]

Random question that someone may be able to help with.


Last September I took a secondment to a different role, different office further away. I got paid my expenses to visit clients but I also got to and from the new office each day. (Claimed from old office to new office then back again each day)

When I got the job permanently (November) I got a letter saying my new job description , wage increase but my base (office) was listed as the old office. So for the last few months I've been claiming my expenses to and from work as I have been since September. All signed off by my manager.

Today she has said she has checked my expenses and I can't claim to and from work each day. I said it's in my contract and she has said HR will just change it and send me a new one.

The difference each month is £200 +. As I live 10 minutes from the old place and 30 from the new one.

As far as I can make out from googling, they can't just change my base without my consent and even less so if it is going to result in a loss in some benefit to me.

They can't retrospectively change things as I have already paid for this month's petrol and now I'm just asking for the expenses back.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[That's not a growth]

If it's in your contact they can't force you to sign a new one

[Lagamorph]

I thought they couldn't technically force you, but they can change your contract with enough notice, and if you refuse to accept/sign the new contract then you're effectively treated as resigning?

They can't make it retroactive, so they'd still need to pay the expenses this month, and during the notice period of the change, but they can change the contract whether you like it or not.
At least that's my understanding of how things work.


Though what the strawberry float are you driving if an extra 20 minutes each way is resulting in a £200/month increase in fuel costs?

[Godzilla]

Thanks.

I get 45p a mile. 12 miles each way. So £10.80 a day. 20 times a month at least.

With the pay rise I'm still out of pocket without the additional expenses as I'm putting a lot more petrol in. I wouldn't have taken the role if I had known I'd be losing money. As it's more stressful and a lot more work.

[Green Gecko]

The reason they won't pay the expenses is that travel to and between a regular place of work isn't counted as a tax deductible business expense under tax rules as it's your normal place of work and so they won't get any tax relief from paying that to you making it effectively free. So they'll expect you to pay it once the new office becomes your regular place of work. They should however continue to pay your expenses for travelling to client sites including subsistence so lunch, dinner etc if this means your work day is something like longer than 9 hours for lunch and 12 hours for dinner, although I can't remember the exact rules from contracting.

[Godzilla]

Thank you.

[Oblomov Boblomov]

Someone just responded to a comment in the office by saying:

"Well it is what it is, at the end of the day."

I nearly had a brain aneurysm.

[Corazon de Leon]

Someone just responded to a comment in the office by saying:

"Well it is what it is, at the end of the day."

I nearly had a brain aneurysm.

Try not to have one mate, I don’t think your Bradford Score would handle it very well.

[Oblomov Boblomov]

Someone just responded to a comment in the office by saying:

"Well it is what it is, at the end of the day."

I nearly had a brain aneurysm.

Try not to have one mate, I don’t think your Bradford Score would handle it very well.

I'd force myself to still come in and spread aneurysms around for everyone to enjoy .

[Jenuall]

The reason they won't pay the expenses is that travel to and between a regular place of work isn't counted as a tax deductible business expense under tax rules as it's your normal place of work and so they won't get any tax relief from paying that to you making it effectively free. So they'll expect you to pay it once the new office becomes your regular place of work. They should however continue to pay your expenses for travelling to client sites including subsistence so lunch, dinner etc if this means your work day is something like longer than 9 hours for lunch and 12 hours for dinner, although I can't remember the exact rules from contracting.

Just to add on this one I believe the rule from HMRC is that if you have spent more than 40% of your time working at a location for a period of 24 months then it becomes your regular place of work.

[pjbetman]

"You're all just chickens in a coop, doing what we want. And if you don't, it's off to the chop shop and into a pie."
I think that sums up that statement from HR.

What a harsh thing to say to any complaints about satisfaction.

I never understand why companies send out employee satisfaction surveys and then get pissy when they don’t like the answer. Why bother asking the staff if you don’t want an honest answer?

Nail on the head.

Damn, it'd be great if someone brought that up.

Mind you, 25%. Is probably deemed acceptable

[Squinty]

They did the same with us when everyone complained about the job. 'Put up with it' basically.

Now they are complaining about staff not engaging enough with these surveys.

[DarkRula]

Maybe they should have the persistence of a certain Leisure Centre Manager. He'd get all the surveys back completed.