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13th March 2007, 11:42 AM
At the moment BAJR (well ermmm.. em) suggests that the national acepted standard of allowing 1 hour at either end of the day is for travel to and from place of work and home. (therefore is not paid) anything over that should be either paid OR the company should consider putting people up in accomodation closer to work...
Think also of the health and safety aspect of travelling while tired after a long days work!
What do people do/think?
Would you feel it acceptable to have to leave at six in the morning so you could be at work for 8:30am on site and then have to get home at 7:30 after finishing work at 5pm?
Suggestions and comments and perhaps even how you work with this issue.
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he
Thomas Rainborough 1647
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13th March 2007, 11:53 AM
in theory yes, though a lot of archaeologists are forced into this sort of commute if their local units don't have any work, and see it as preferable to staying away from home. Any obligation on employers to pay extra / provide accommodation would prejudice them against employing people who don't live locally to the unit office or site, resulting in (admittedly perhaps just a few) more unemployed archaeologists.
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13th March 2007, 12:15 PM
There are a lot of permutations here, that make the possibilty of 'one size fits all' frankly impossible.
I guess you don't mean these rules to apply to commuters on public transport (where one hour could mean only 2/3rds of the way across Greater London, and still some distance from home)? Or to persons being driven to work, as opposed to persons driving to work?
A lot of units distinguish between the persons being chaufferred and those doing the driving. I know of one unit for example that allows its designated drivers to have two additional 1/4 hour breaks (after arriving at work in the morning and before taking people home at night) so they can partly recover from the stress of driving and some units that allow [u]all</u> work related travelling to be undertaken during work time (including overtime if on site hours and travelling time together exceed the standard local government working week).
And what about that unit in Cumbria that encourages it's staff to use bicycles or public transport...Does it pay an allowance? Does cycle time count as part of the working day? Good way to get muscles flexed early in the morning before hefting a mattock.
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13th March 2007, 12:20 PM
I would've thought that if anyone takes a job with an excessively long commute, that was their problem to overcome (for example, it isn't reasonable to take a job in Southampton and expect your employer to pick up the travel time for you if you live in London and don't relocate). However, once the employer starts sending people further away from the office, then travel time of more than an hour from the office should come into consideration as something they could be covering you for either in time or accomodation. I don't know if there are any rules on this though. I certainly had a run-in with one of my unit managers about this issue when I was digging, and they sent us on a round trip each day for a week that was meaning I was doing 13 hours plus door-to-door.
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13th March 2007, 12:33 PM
I worked for a unit many years ago where all travel time was included in work hours - made for very short days when traffic was bad.
All designated drivers had to pass a minibus test - they were then committed, with no extra pay, to chauffering everyone else round. This meant we were responsible for them and had to be careful about drinking too much the night before etc. Everyone was supposed to have one of these tests, but lots of folks deliberately flunked them because they didn't want the hassle, thereby putting more strain on the drivers. This caused some resentment and one or two narrowly averted punch-ups, especially when the flunkers had the cheek to complain when the drivers put in for extra pay. Still makes me seeth
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13th March 2007, 02:38 PM
I agree with Kevin on this one - it is difficult to find an 'acceptable' distance for travel and may well depend on circumstances - one hour in some areas could mean 60 miles, whilst in other areas it may be less than 20 miles. However, the employer really needs to define and work with a clear policy on this. One hour is usually thought to be about right, but there should be some flexibility built in to allow for local circumstances.
Yes - drivers should be trained and if necessary should be allowed additional rest times. Journeys of more than two hours (beginning or end of week) should be partly within work time and should involve more than one driver.
Beamo
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13th March 2007, 03:22 PM
Thats what I would agree with beamo (and others) flexible but sensible and safe.
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
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13th March 2007, 06:54 PM
I think everybody should look at what is normal in the construction industry.
Last week I met some contrators who were driving for 3 hours each way in their own time for example.
Peter Wardle
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13th March 2007, 08:30 PM
Quote:quote: I think everybody should look at what is normal in the construction industry.
Are you suggesting that we should seek to emulate poor working practice elsewhere?
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13th March 2007, 09:07 PM
Thats what i thought.. but I am sure not..
Peter is jsut pointing out that people are even worse elsewhere... think of the danger on the road..!! think of slave labour..
up at 4:30am... leave house 5:30 get to work 8:30 then hard work all day to 5pm and back home by 8pm ish wat a life!
Poor bggggrs
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
