Work Want Me To Move

[bednobs]

i know i've asked this before, but that was when things "might" happen, and now things have actually happened.
I had to interview for my own job, but in another part of the NHS (the bit i work for is closing down), and was accepted with "location to be arranged with your new line manger, they will make every effort to accomodate your requests". I got a letter giving me the job, saying i had to accept it within 5 days - still not heard about locatrion, so i accepted it
Have found out today they want me to work in another county 3 days a week and from home 2 days a week. This is impossible for me because it would be a 1.5/2hr journey each way and i wouldn't be able to work full time and still drop off/pick up daughter from nursery. If i found one closer to the job, when i am working from home, i'd have to do a 3 hr at least round trip to drop her off and come back home - impossible!
do i have any rights at all, or will i just have to quit?

[murraymints]

Don't think you can do much about it....you accepted the terms as location to be decided...can you appeal to human resources compassionate side ?.

[joko]

i doubt it - thats the job on offer, take it or leave it i suppose.

its worth a try asking though - explain that you didnt realise they wanted that before you accepted. they may be able to rework things in your favour

[boxtops]

Bednobs, we are being told that relocation as a result of transition from the PCTs is being dealt with on a per individual basis - difficulty in getting to a place due to (amongst other things) personal circumstances can be considered a reasonable reason for not accepting a relocation. I'm not sure whether this only applies to people like me who are under notice of redundancy, but since our new bases (when they sort us out) could potentially be 1.5 hours away on the train (so 3 hrs travel per day), this is a hurdle which we may still have to cross.
We are told that at present, remote working will continue so we might only have to go to base say once a week. That's a better option.

[bednobs]

working from home would be terrible for me. If i had to go to the other county once a week, that would be better.

[Eve]

Is there anything they could look into under a reasonable adjustment? Working from home or doing work for that base from a different base closer to home or changing hours or working patterns around if that would make it easier somehow?

[boxtops]

Trouble is, if your area is like ours, most of the hotdesk facilities we can currently use in other towns will be closing down on 31 March as part of all the changes. It'll be office, or home.
I'd speak to HR, tomorrow, in the receiving organisation. (What sort of organisation is it? we've got 12 potential receiver organisations here in Kent)

[buildersmate]

So you did ask where the new job location would be at interview?

I don't think your NHS Trust are being reasonable here; a guideline that I have seen before is one hour's travelling. One of the places I've seen that is in the civil servant side of the MOD - it is all laid out according to one's grade about the mobility aspects, and junior people are certainly not expected to shift this far.

Is there a mobility clause in your existing contract? Given that the NHS is also heavily unionised, are there not general agreements.

The alternative, if you have no mobility clause in your contract, is that you are declared redundant - you shouldn't have to resign with no compensation. You are redundant because the job you had is no longer required in your normal place of work.

[boxtops]

BM - good point - but there appears to be some sort of expectation that the more senior graded you are in the NHS, the more you might be expected to travel to awkward places to fulfil the expectations of the job. I agree with you about redundancy but we have to be seen to be applying for suitable jobs within the current job pool, in order to maintain our eligibility for redundancy. It's a fine line and very hard to know what to do at the moment.

[buildersmate]

"there appears to be some sort of expectation that the more senior graded you are in the NHS, the more you might be expected to travel to awkward places to fulfil the expectations"

Yes, and this is the way it is in the MOD as well (and in lots of other private-sector areas - I'm only quoting MOD because it is another major department department and I know a bit about what happens in there). But something ought to be in the contract. The normal place of work should be on file somewhere, and something in words about mobility. For many years I've had contracts that say something like 'your place of work will x but you will be expected to work in other locations as the requirements of the job dictate'. Don't you have something similar in the NHS?

[boxtops]

Yes BM, I guess we do. I am rarely in the same place more than 2 days a week.

[buildersmate]

OK, it obviously depends on one's level in the organisation - I know (from your previous comments) that your role is relatively senior, no idea about bn.
In the MOD, grades E1 and E2 are non-mobile, D grade and above are. Not sure how that tracks across the civil service.
As for me, I'm never worked as a civil servant.

[woofgang]

When we were relocated a few years ago, there was a deal that if your journey increased by more that IIRC an hour each way, you were allowed to arrive at work and hour later and leave an hour earlier. i think that was agreed for a limited period of time though, might have been a year. Mileage was also paid on the journey difference for all.

[woofgang]

forgot to say it was NHS

[bednobs]

thanks all - at interview it was still all up in the air, They asked me what my preferred location would be, but no guaruntees, Obv i said my current county

[bednobs]

ps the receiving org is the CSU

[buildersmate]

But when one works for the NHS, isn't one's employer a specific NHS Trust (rather than the Dept of Health, say).
So if you are being offered redeployment from one bit of the NHS in one county to another, doesn't this involve a change in employer?
In which case, isn't this a bit like other transfers across Government Departments, where, whilst the Government departments are clearly keen to redeploy where possible, if the employee doesn't want to go, a redundancy alternative applies? Not that you want that, but the point is, how can your only alternative be resignation? What are the Unions saying about this?

[buildersmate]

Sorry, a missing point to the above is, assuming you have a mobility clause in your contract, how can that mobility apply across different NHS employers.

[owdhamer]

Location should have been sorted first, sounds like a stitch up.

[ladyalex]

Are you in a Union ?
They're usually the people to turn to in a situation like this.
Sounds unfair to me to give you a 5 day deadline to accept or reject a job without making it clear exactly what the job involved.
I tend to agree with owd.

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

I think maybe you should consider a change of nursery to suit your relocation.