Hi Cass

I've had a few people try this in the past, and unless they are extremely well paid, this doesn't tend to work.

3 nights hotel accommodation every week plus travel costs is a significant sum, and in my experience, once they've crunched the numbers properly they'll realise it's not sustainable long term. Even if they can manage it in the short term, I would expect that longer term they will be requesting to reduce the percentage of the time they are required on site to reduce their living costs (the requirement to work on site for 80% being a separate issue which I won't get into)

Are you offering any relocation support for them to relocate permanently?

If they are not prepared to relocate (with your support) I would personally be concerned that if they took the role they would be looking for something closer to home where they wouldn't have to incur such costs, but maybe that's the cynic in me

Good luck

Joe

Joe's reservations notwithstanding, I would say that an employee's living arrangements are really not your business.

Although I've not done this myself, I certainly scoped it for a role where I would have had to be in the office two days a week, and it made more financial sense to drive up, spend a night in an AirBnB and drive home than to make four long journeys.

Depending on the individual, there are a host of reasons it might or might not work and it's really not on you to decide for them. That said, there's no protected characteristic in play, here, so if you feel that their distance from the office is a red flag and you have other qualified candidates in your pipeline, by all means say "no". If you don't have other qualified candidates, though...

In reply to Joe :

Hi Joe,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts here -
No relocation support is being offered, the reservations you have outlined is where my head was at but, I am trying to balance with trying to be open minded - just because for me personally that wouldnt work long term, it doesnt mean it cant work for others!

I think this does require a more indepth conversation with the candidate to get more of a feel for things and then we will go from there!

In reply to Robey:

Hi Robey,

Thanks for replying -

I think it is a legitimate consideration however I concede that I was also personally thinking about whether this would work for me which is not the right mindset really. That is why I posted on here - to get a sense check as although this would not be sustainable for me long term, given what he has outlined about his personal circumstances, this may work for him.

However, the reservations that Joe outlined certainly did come to my mind because the candidate was already angling to understand how much of the time could be spent working remotely and he had already ascertained, not incorrectly I may add, that at least one day would be admin related.

I think overall there needs to be an open honest conversation to manage expectations - for example, he asserted that he could have Friday as his admin day and so drive down Sunday night and stay til Thursday evening. It may not always be possible to have Friday as his admin day and this will need to be discussed, explored and understood - this may change his mindset about the suitability of the role.

I think having an open and honest conversation is the only way forward. I would add for context, that having had a similar situation some years ago, I appointed someone to a role that he was relocating back to the UK for. Instead of somewhere commutable to London, he chose to move to Scotland, which was a bit of a surprise. He then did exactly the pattern that your employee is proposing, flying down on a Sunday evening and flying home on a Thursday evening, for over 10 years!

I worried about him, and the impact on his family, but in the end it was none of my business. He did his job well, it suited his career and family in ways that he couldn't have replicated with moving them closer to work or his work closer to them, and we were delighted that he stuck with it.

That said, the experience of the last few years, when travel became so much more difficult/restricted and expensive, would make me want to explore how the individual would cope with a future situation where they were unable to work in the way they'd planned.

In reply to Nina Waters:

Thanks Nina

Its nice to hear that in your case it worked out and I do think that some people will have that determined mindset to make it work for both personal and practical reasons.

Definitely a follow up conversation is required to enable all involved to have an honest frank conversation.

In reply to Nina Waters:

My guess is that there are hundreds or at least tens of thousands of people who have been doing this for years.

Hi Cass,

several members of my family work away from home, some work in other countries and they have families too. They mostly travel home every 2 weeks but have 'digs' nearby where they work and it works out just fine for them. Think you need to have an honest conversation with the person about your concerns. In some areas some folk have no choice but to work away from home due to skilled job shortages.