Just to check, do you currently hold employment in Big 4? Your recent posts seem to suggest you are at uni/school? There's no point speculating about a situation like this if it isn't even a problem!

Reply 44

alibee

Original post by Kutie Karen

If only it were that simple.

It does pretty much boil down to that though...

Unless you have caring responsibilities or something at home, in which case I'm sure your firm can accommodate that, they do pay you enough to get a houseshare in London, so why should other people have to travel to the further flung jobs because you're saving your money by living further out (I'm presuming you're in London here) I'm sure they would let you swap jobs if you found someone who was up for it.

Reply 45

M1011

Original post by Kutie Karen

, I thought that if you are working at a client site then that is your place of work for the week, month etc. So it is the total journey time one way from home to the client site (place of work) that should be taken into account, People don;t go to their normal office and then do their journey to the client site each day. Can anyone tell me what their travel policy says just out of interest?

Always best to quote on responses or the other person might not see them!

As I think someone else has now mentioned, your base location to client location is what the travel policy will be dependant on. You've made a decision to live far away in order to save money (I assume?), so there's no reason why your firm should have to fork out for a hotel due to your decision. This is massively different to them requiring you to travel hours out of London without a hotel - you see that right?

If you're not happy with the commute, I suggest you consider moving closer to your base location.

Reply 46

snakesnake

This might vary a bit from firm to firm but generally anything to the office from home is out of your own pocket but anything above and beyond that (i.e it costs you more to get to the client) you can expense back to the firm. If the commute is over 2h and you're not working 10AM-4PM then you'll be staying at a hotel.

Also living further out doesn't automatically save you money as commuting in can be very expensive. Plus do you really want to spend half your life on trains?

Reply 47

hermes1

Wow, tax seems like such a good deal compared to Audit. I rarely leave the office after 7 (mostly leave a 6ish), and no commute / get to go back to go to my home instead of a crappy hotel. I guess if you go into tax you are stuck in tax though.

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(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 48

Kutie Karen

Original post by snakesnake

Absolutely agree with you on this. :smile:

Sometimes, people just don't have the choice on where they live and commuting is not fun and expensive!!! Can you clarify if you had to travel to a client site would your firm calculate travel time from your office or from your home to the client office?

Reply 49

snakesnake

Original post by Kutie Karen

Absolutely agree with you on this. :smile:

Its from your home. Generally if its far for one of you, its far for most of the team (unless by coincidence someone happens to live near there).

If you're based in London, you might find yourself not travelling far out that much at all as the clients have their offices in central London..

Reply 50

Kutie Karen

Thanks for getting back so quickly. Does your firm also have a travel policy?

Reply 51

Simonthegreat

Original post by alibee

Why are you being so hard on her? I think she geniunely needs support and advice and obviously her managers are not providing that. I get the impression she doesn't mind travelling and it is not about saving money etc but more about the stress of doing a 2 hour plus commute daily each way.

Perhaps, it might be good to see what travel policies there are?

Reply 52

M1011

Original post by snakesnake

It's not from your home, it's from your base location. Else we could all just work on London salaries, live at northern house prices and spend our weeks in hotels :tongue:

It's the individuals responsibility to be near the base location, just like you mentioned earlier it being the individuals responsibility to cover home to base expenses.

Original post by Simonthegreat

I don't think he's being hard on her, he's making valid points. It's exactly the answer to her question - so he's doing her a favour!

Travel policies will not allow for her to claim hotel expenses on a client which by all accounts is close to the office, just because she lives far away for whatever reason. That's her responsibility, not the employers. If there's some genuine reason to be living 90 minutes from her base office location (carer or something like that) then it may well be worth having a frank conversation with HR to see if an arrangement can be made, but outside of that she's only putting the 2 hour commute on herself and can't blame the company for that.

Reply 53

username1204872

Original post by hermes1

Precisely why I chose audit over tax.

Reply 54

username1204872

Original post by snakesnake

You'd be surprised. The Big 4 don't only audit FTSE100 clients you know. I have colleagues who have had to commute to Kent, Surrey and Reading.

Reply 55

username1204872

Original post by M1011

It's not from your home, it's from your base location. Else we could all just work on London salaries, live at northern house prices and spend our weeks in hotels :tongue:

It's the individuals responsibility to be near the base location, just like you mentioned earlier it being the individuals responsibility to cover home to base expenses.

I don't think he's being hard on her, he's making valid points. It's exactly the answer to her question - so he's doing her a favour!

Travel policies will not allow for her to claim hotel expenses on a client which by all accounts is close to the office, just because she lives far away for whatever reason. That's her responsibility, not the employers. If there's some genuine reason to be living 90 minutes from her base office location (carer or something like that) then it may well be worth having a frank conversation with HR to see if an arrangement can be made, but outside of that she's only putting the 2 hour commute on herself and can't blame the company for that.

Ditto. The way I see it, my parents aren't even based in the country so I don't have the privilege of paying zero rent. If the 2 hour commute is too much hassle, consider renting a place near Central London. I'm sure 90% of her colleagues do this so there's no reason why she can't.

Reply 56

snakesnake

Original post by Roronoa

You'd be surprised. The Big 4 don't only audit FTSE100 clients you know. I have colleagues who have had to commute to Kent, Surrey and Reading.

I'm not surprised, I work at a Big Four currently. Of course there are clients that can be far out, I've gone as far as Newcastle for clients even though I'm based in London. Then again I know some people who have almost never stayed in a hotel working at my company. It varies is my point and no way to predict where you'll be based.

Reply 57

username1204872

Original post by snakesnake

I was referring to commutes from London, not away jobs. Essentially jobs outside London that do not fit the hotel policy (i.e. Reading, Surrey, Kent) which are horrible as they can take as long as 1.5+ hours door to door, but are not far enough to warrant a hotel.

I go to Edinburgh every quarter for one of my clients and Manchester for the other, but these are away jobs where you get a hotel.

Reply 58

snakesnake

Original post by Roronoa

It can vary. I know that during busy season when you're working longer hours the people who are in places like Maidenhead or Crawley have generally stayed in hotels.