Q & A Table of Contents
Who Should Pay For My 1000 Kilometer Commute?
From: Sarah, Australia
Question: I have been approached by a potential employer and need to travel
to another city to attend an interview. As I am unprepared to relocate this
new job will involve some commuting from my home to their office (about
1000kms - $350 approximately Australian dollars airfare) on an ongoing
basis, as well as a trip for the interview. It may also involve significant
overseas travel. My concern is that they will see this as "my problem"
whereas I would like the interview trip and future travel to be at their
expense. Please advise me as to how I should broach the matter of them
paying for me to attend the interview, and also how to handle the issue of
future trips as part of the salary negotiations. (Or am I being
unreasonable)?
Response: Your airfare dilemma poses some interesting problems. Let's go a
little backwards:
If the potential employer would want you to relocate, why are you not
prepared to do so? How badly does this employer need to have you in its
office in order to achieve the job's objectives? Is teamwork with
colleagues an important element of the job?
Fundamentally, your first order of business should be to examine the
interests of this employer. You may have to make some assumptions first,
but then you can use those assumptions to help you figure out what
information you need to get from them in order to be able to negotiate
effectively with them. For example, if they -- or office colleagues -- need
to see your face on a regular basis for esprit de corps reasons, that may
give you a sense of how important it is to them to have you on their turf.
It would also make sense to do some research on other people at your level
or in your kind of job in the Australian job market who 'commute' long
distances to work. 1000 kilometers is not exactly a morning's drive. Do
other employers pay for such air travel? Does this employer have the
capacity to buy something on the order of a commuter pass that saves big
money on the normal plane fare? If it is normal for employers to pay for
such travel, then you've got a good case. If you have extraordinary talents
that the employer cannot find in its local market, and if you have similarly
extraordinary reasons for not relocating, then again your bargaining
leverage is somewhat stronger.
If not relocating is a personal choice, what arguments can you use to get
the employer to pay the costs of travel? Is there a trade-off in terms of
housing subsidy paid in the employer's locality? Would the employer be
prepared to pay relocation expenses -- and if so, how would these costs
compare to the cost of commuting for, say, one year?
How much are you willing to trade off your salary or other compensation in
order to get the employer to pay for your transportation?
In summary, to me it seems an extraordinary request to ask your employer to
pay $350AU per week just to get you to the office. If there are interests
of yours and interests of theirs to be served by having this happen, then it
is appropriate to ask for this as part of your employment agreement.
As regards who pays your transportation to the interview, it strikes me that
if you are asking the employer to make an investment in you by hiring you,
you should be prepared to pay for your travel to the interview. There is
nothing wrong with asking for them to pay, but it may increase your
bargaining power over other issues if you're willing to pay for
transportation to the first meeting.
Hope this helps.
Steve
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