Ask work.

“Working from home is not viable, what are you going to do about it?”

(only, y’know, nicely)

This. Should the situation actually arise.

I’m not suggesting they give me £10K for a fancy shed, I’m asking if they can force me into spending it myself, or what would be reasonable in asking for a contribution or even just financing it through a cheap loan so i don’t have to finance with a loan myself / eat into savings / remortgage on a worse deal than I currently have.

The other option is to install a garden office but that would cost around £10K which i don’t have, and I don’t want to remortgage to get it because then I’d lose the great mortgage deal i already have in place. I’m not expecting the company to buy me a home office, even though it would probably be cheap compared to the existing office closure costs but can they give me an low / interest free loan for example.

Have a look for co-working spaces near where you live. An example in London is The Hub, Kings Cross

Can give you office banter, internet connectivity and a place to work without impacting home life.

Not sure what your job is, but could you do flexible hours? Work the school hours when the house is quiet, take time with the family in afternoon/early evening, and then work again in late evening?

Them: Work at home please.
You: Sorry, not practical given my circumstances.
Them: Hmmmm, we better think about this then.

Are there a few of you within the same geographical area who could share a serviced office (at your employers expense) ? A quick google shows up a few in Guildford (serviced offices not your work colleagues 😉 )

mrmo – every contract i’ve seen in the last 10-15 yrs has stated a “normal place of work” and then something to the effect of “we can post your wherever we want for as long as we want and change your place of work at our discresion”. So not making him redundant if they change location to home working.

TOJV – I’ve never heard of anyone being forced to work from home before. I am sure your company will be able to find a practical solution and will be only too keen to hear about your concerns about working effectively and efficiently in that environment. Experience also tells me that when “the writing is on the wall” it often takes a very long time to happen. I’d guess from an official decision – 6 months to close the technical centre and then another 6 months of office people rattling about in an empty shell before anything happens to the rest! Its not really the climate for selling large empty industrial buildings so you might find it is much longer.

TJ – Serviced office rates vary significantly; For a pokey office with one desk in a high quality facility something like £250 a month all inc. is typical up here. I’d guess 50% more in London? An office that fits 3 might only be double the cost though.

poly, all i know is my last couple of contracts had a place of work on them, and when the business moved the choice was move or redundancy. Although there was something about 10miles on one of the moves that meant no payment was needed. I also know of another place where business relocation meant all office sales staff were told homework or redundancy, although i was temping so don’t know the wording of the contracts of those affected.

thing is the company is trying to save money and they may need to in order to stay in business.

Flip it around. Employee in financial strife – would you expect the employer to bail him out?

Flip it around. Employee in financial strife – would you expect the employer to bail him out?

Some companies will if they can, pay a portion of your salary early, loans at preferential rates (I believe) are also possible.
Next.

This happened to me about 4 years ago. We were having some home improvements done at the time anyway and cut the bathroom in half and used that space to create me an office.

Bear in mind that you will make all sorts of savings financially and in terms of the time you have available to do the things you want to do if you work from home, eat out of your own kitchen and don’t have to commute.

Also, it’s not kids you have to worry about in terms of interruptions, it’s your partner. Might be a bit crowded with nowhere to escape to for both of you if you both work from home. Beware of familiarity breeding contempt.