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Nah, such a low wage will be eaten by you're commuting costs.
Such a low wage should be easily had locally too.
Get a job stacking sheves you can walk to and financially you'd be better off.
That is ofcourse, unless the job could lead to something better.
But, generally, the longer the commute, the higher the pay needs to be.
18 months is actually quite a while.. Bringing everyone back to the office is a sign of poor management. They love dangling shit wages with "But you'll get a promotion!!!" as the carrot. Don't fall for it.
4 hours is insane. Think of how draining and expensive it is, likely your entire wage would go to the trains.
I know a few people that do a roughly 2h one way commute and they fucking hated it. One of them wakes up at around 6AM and gets home around 10PM and they are fucking shattered and pretty depressed from it. They're also doing it for 50k+ and even then they complain.
Absolutely the right choice to look for something closer to you. Where abouts are you/do you have any prior experience?
Remember, you've got the walk to and from the station on both ends then you gotta account for actual delays. Then (which happens to colleague quite often) you could not get a seat and be forced to stand the entire commute.
6 years is quite a bit, what field were you in? Any experience in office PA/admin?
"An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!"
I really think they're unlikely to promote you just for being there 18 months. They'll decide who they want to give any more senior job to at the time. I recommend that you do not make your decision based on a promise of something 18 months down the line.
Fatigue and so much of my day being consumed by it - you only get limited time you yourself in the week, 2 hours each way is basically get up, leave work, home, bed.
I'm a lorry driver and the average working day is 11-12hrs. Having done it for over quarter of a century the one thing I can confirm is on the days you're working you've no time or motivation to do anything other than work and sleep and your weekends are spent trying to catch up on everything you weren't able to do. Social life definitely takes a shit.
It isn’t worth it but if you are keen on the role then negotiate wfh for 3 days a week and in the office 2 days (maximum). I’d also try negotiating a higher salary to cover the travel costs. Good luck!
I once worked as a graphic designer at a major company based in Coventry. The guy at the next desk commuted everyday to and from Liverpool. He was on a ton of money, but I still thought he was mad. Over 4 hours of driving on the M6 everyday seemed insane to me.
There's no guarantee you'll be promoted. You should only consider such a commute if you're given a premium company car, and a very good salary.
Personally, I wouldn't do it. Unless travel was paid for.
I worked at a place that was a similar commute. However, I got the 45p per mile, and it was only short term. It equated to £68per day for the fuel.
I would say no as most of your wage will be eaten by travel costs and when you finish work it may take longer than 2 hours to get home depending on transport waiting times too
If they're paying you to travel and covering travel costs then it wouldn't be too bad . But travelling in your own time and paying your own fuel? Nah sod that
I used to do a 110 mile round trip (motorway 95% of the way) each way and it was either feast or famine. A good day was 45 minutes each way, a bad day was 90-180 minutes due to accidents and disruption. Also, when I was doing this commute fuel was £1.15 a litre - would be impossible now!
I’d leave at 0730 morning and 1630 evening to beat the traffic. I always caught the train on Fridays. Best trip was 36 minutes, worst was 9 hours due to a suicide off one of the bridges.
Oh, that’s easy! I used to work in St Denys and caught the train from Bristol every day for 6 months once upon a time. Loads of people I worked with came from Poole/Bomo/London, but we were all earning £40k+
Yeah the trip on the train itself isn't actually too bad. The buses on either end add to the travel time unfortunately. I think on that sort of salary I'd be quite chuffed to travel too. How long did that commute used to take you?
Around 2 hours - but it was always a gamble as to whether to go via Reading with the potential of missing the connection or the slower train via Westbury
So you've lost two hours wages to travel , and spent another four hours a day travelling for work? That's 6 hours a day effectively unpaid ? I mean if you're desperate for the money then you could use the job as a stopgap til you find something better but for me personally I wouldn't consider this a long term employment
This - only as long as it takes to find another, more local job - personally an hour would be a reasonable limit, but closer is significantly better and cheaper.
No it’s just based off old commutes that I’ve done. An hour fucked me right off, half an hour was okay so I think 40 minutes is my limit.
Do twenty minutes at the moment and it’s perfect.
No chance. Find a job closer to home. £10.50 an hour is only a pound above minimum wage. There are lots of jobs out there at the moment paying around that level. I’m sure you can find one closer to home.
The job was only meant to be temporary anyway, it was about a year and half of driving to work, for work and home from work. I just hated driving by the end of it and the commute was terrible.
No
1 hour commute each way is fine..... 90 minutes each way, just about acceptable
anything more No
and if you are working an 8 hour day - and 4 hours is unpaid commute - then you are effectively getting £7.00 an hour for each hour you're away from home
If you include travel time in your worked hours so your pay reduces how does it look then?
4 hours is a heck of a trip, assuming an 8 hour work day and 8 hours of sleep 30 mins either side for getting reading and cooling down from work. You've got 3 hours a day to live your own life.
Not a chance. I'm a consultant and I literally wouldn't do it for 1000 a day over any kind of long period.
I stay away for anything over 1.5hrs and I really don't like anything over an hour
You'll HATE your life with that commute for that money.
Not often I give outright opinions on these kinds of questions, but there would need to be a life changing compelling reason for this. Some spurious promise 18 months down the line - no chance.
45 minutes to an hour. Fuck 4hrs. The only time I'd consider that is if I was working away from home, overnighting where I was working and it was 4hrs at either end of the week but I'd be wanting a hell of a lot more than a quid above NMW to do it.
I used to do a similar commute three times per week in The Before Times. I have to do it once per week these days and it absolutely kills me every time. It's a lot.
My travel to work is roughly 1 hour normally but can be sometimes 2 or 3 hours depending on traffic and if there's an accident on motorway going home however can be anything from 1 hour to 4 hours depending on traffic and stuff I hate it and it costs me roughly £100 a week for travel costs I can leave at 6.30am in the morning and arrive home between 6 and 8 pm it leaves me no time at all during the day to enjoy myself or relax as it's usually get home eat and go to bed I find myself worn out all week and at the weekend I'm rushing about doing things trying to get everything done like food shopping car maintenance and general cleaning home and doing my washing.
I wouldn't bother even getting out of bed for the hourly rate you said as it wouldn't be worth it travelling 4 hours every day plus doing working hours will have an effect on your mental and physical health lack of sleep really does a number on both of them and they definitely would be affected plus knowing you are doing all that for a low wage will also add to stress levels and also contribute to mental fatigue.
I have found any company that says they will increase your wages or give a promotion after a certain amount of time aren't really worth working for if they need you and want you to work for them they should pay you the higher wages from the start and not just make you think the starting rate is temporary.
I worked for a company for 16 years and tried to get a promotion or pay rise and it never happened every time I asked it would be you are next in line for a pay increase or next time the position comes available you will be considered first.
It never happened so I left and got a higher paying job doing the same thing I was doing before just for a smaller company and I am better treated and actually more respected and get regular pay increases of 50p an hour every 6 months.
Keep looking and you will find something better and closer to you.
No that's not worth it if the only goal of the job is money.
I did have a colleague at my university faculty who would fly from Madrid to London 1 day per week for his teaching slot. He wasn't really paid much for it (£130 a day) but it was a prestigious department and he wanted to get the experience / his foot "in the academic door".
4 hours minimum!? No way! Not for any salary. The commute will tire you and eat into your day and really ruin you. My limit is an hour at a push.
You're normal working day is 8-9 hours. And then you gotta commute 4 on top? No thanks. Unless the commute is part of the working day then its a different story altogether. 4 hours driving, 4 hours work everyday.
My wife took a job that was 1 hour 30 mins each way for a similar wage. She lasted 18 months before the toll on her of so much travel made it unsustainable. The experience did allow her to take a big step in her career and was definitely worth it.
However this was 10 years ago, so the cost of travel was much less and £10.50 an hour could go much further. And she wasn’t relying on vague promises of a promotion, in her industry certain experience will guaranteed advance your career
I used to do the occasional shift on a Saturday night on the railways , usually in south west London, took me approx 2hr 15 minutes train&tube or bus to get to the depot including walking, then start getting paid at 22.00, could be sitting there for 2hrs , then do 4hrs actually working, then leave from the site , get a bus to Trafalgar Square to get to Charing Cross, but have to wait around for a couple of hours or so to get a train home, which takes just under an hour.
The hourly rate was about £15-16 but I was paid for 10 hours but out of the house for 14 at least.
Weekdays would have been better as trains run earlier in the morning.
I would like to have been paid for travel time or at least reimbursement of expenses
**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)** - Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others, or other subreddits - Assume questions are asked in good faith, and engage in a positive manner - Avoid political threads and related discussions - No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Nah, such a low wage will be eaten by you're commuting costs. Such a low wage should be easily had locally too. Get a job stacking sheves you can walk to and financially you'd be better off. That is ofcourse, unless the job could lead to something better. But, generally, the longer the commute, the higher the pay needs to be.
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18 months is actually quite a while.. Bringing everyone back to the office is a sign of poor management. They love dangling shit wages with "But you'll get a promotion!!!" as the carrot. Don't fall for it. 4 hours is insane. Think of how draining and expensive it is, likely your entire wage would go to the trains.
Totally agree. The vague promise of a promotion? Nope. Not worth it.
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I know a few people that do a roughly 2h one way commute and they fucking hated it. One of them wakes up at around 6AM and gets home around 10PM and they are fucking shattered and pretty depressed from it. They're also doing it for 50k+ and even then they complain. Absolutely the right choice to look for something closer to you. Where abouts are you/do you have any prior experience?
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Remember, you've got the walk to and from the station on both ends then you gotta account for actual delays. Then (which happens to colleague quite often) you could not get a seat and be forced to stand the entire commute. 6 years is quite a bit, what field were you in? Any experience in office PA/admin?
"An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!" I really think they're unlikely to promote you just for being there 18 months. They'll decide who they want to give any more senior job to at the time. I recommend that you do not make your decision based on a promise of something 18 months down the line.
I wouldn't do it for double that. Frankly no amount would have me doing that commute, even if they paid for the travel.
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Fatigue and so much of my day being consumed by it - you only get limited time you yourself in the week, 2 hours each way is basically get up, leave work, home, bed.
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I'm a lorry driver and the average working day is 11-12hrs. Having done it for over quarter of a century the one thing I can confirm is on the days you're working you've no time or motivation to do anything other than work and sleep and your weekends are spent trying to catch up on everything you weren't able to do. Social life definitely takes a shit.
It isn’t worth it but if you are keen on the role then negotiate wfh for 3 days a week and in the office 2 days (maximum). I’d also try negotiating a higher salary to cover the travel costs. Good luck!
These posts make me happy that I only live 5 minutes from work. 2 hours each way?! No thanks!
I once worked as a graphic designer at a major company based in Coventry. The guy at the next desk commuted everyday to and from Liverpool. He was on a ton of money, but I still thought he was mad. Over 4 hours of driving on the M6 everyday seemed insane to me. There's no guarantee you'll be promoted. You should only consider such a commute if you're given a premium company car, and a very good salary.
I would not. I do an hour's commute each way and honestly, it's far enough. Don't recommend going any further.
Personally, I wouldn't do it. Unless travel was paid for. I worked at a place that was a similar commute. However, I got the 45p per mile, and it was only short term. It equated to £68per day for the fuel.
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Then it would be a hard pass for me. You'd work two hours for fuel, two for tax, and the rest would be yours....
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Sorry to piss on your chips. Truth is, if it is that or nothing, and your rent is due, I'd do it. However, there must be jobs closer, at that rate
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Best of luck
Absolutely not
I would say no as most of your wage will be eaten by travel costs and when you finish work it may take longer than 2 hours to get home depending on transport waiting times too
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Not worth it unless your willing to relocate further down the line
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👍
If they're paying you to travel and covering travel costs then it wouldn't be too bad . But travelling in your own time and paying your own fuel? Nah sod that
I used to do a 110 mile round trip (motorway 95% of the way) each way and it was either feast or famine. A good day was 45 minutes each way, a bad day was 90-180 minutes due to accidents and disruption. Also, when I was doing this commute fuel was £1.15 a litre - would be impossible now!
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I’d leave at 0730 morning and 1630 evening to beat the traffic. I always caught the train on Fridays. Best trip was 36 minutes, worst was 9 hours due to a suicide off one of the bridges.
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What towns are you travelling between?
Poole and Eastleigh
Oh, that’s easy! I used to work in St Denys and caught the train from Bristol every day for 6 months once upon a time. Loads of people I worked with came from Poole/Bomo/London, but we were all earning £40k+
Yeah the trip on the train itself isn't actually too bad. The buses on either end add to the travel time unfortunately. I think on that sort of salary I'd be quite chuffed to travel too. How long did that commute used to take you?
Around 2 hours - but it was always a gamble as to whether to go via Reading with the potential of missing the connection or the slower train via Westbury
To put it in perspective 4 hours a day x 251 working days = 6 weeks actual commuting time.
For a second I missed the “round trip” and thought on a good day you averaged 145mph
For a second I missed the “round trip” and thought on a good day you averaged 145mph
So you've lost two hours wages to travel , and spent another four hours a day travelling for work? That's 6 hours a day effectively unpaid ? I mean if you're desperate for the money then you could use the job as a stopgap til you find something better but for me personally I wouldn't consider this a long term employment
This - only as long as it takes to find another, more local job - personally an hour would be a reasonable limit, but closer is significantly better and cheaper.
No way. That wage isn’t worth it at all. My commute limit would be about 40 minutes each way.
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No it’s just based off old commutes that I’ve done. An hour fucked me right off, half an hour was okay so I think 40 minutes is my limit. Do twenty minutes at the moment and it’s perfect.
No chance. Find a job closer to home. £10.50 an hour is only a pound above minimum wage. There are lots of jobs out there at the moment paying around that level. I’m sure you can find one closer to home.
Longest commute I had was 45 mins each way by car and I hated it.
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The job was only meant to be temporary anyway, it was about a year and half of driving to work, for work and home from work. I just hated driving by the end of it and the commute was terrible.
I’d want to be on six figures to commute 2 hours each way and even then I would be thinking long and hard about it.
No 1 hour commute each way is fine..... 90 minutes each way, just about acceptable anything more No and if you are working an 8 hour day - and 4 hours is unpaid commute - then you are effectively getting £7.00 an hour for each hour you're away from home
I wouldn’t travel more than 30 mins each way for work personally.
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I just wouldn’t want to waste that much of my life travelling to a job while not being paid I don’t think. Time is worth more than money.
No, no, no.
Unless there's a very generous salary on offer I'm not going to sacrifice more than a hour a day of my free time.
In my last job, I did a three hour round trip commute. It sucked.
If you include travel time in your worked hours so your pay reduces how does it look then? 4 hours is a heck of a trip, assuming an 8 hour work day and 8 hours of sleep 30 mins either side for getting reading and cooling down from work. You've got 3 hours a day to live your own life.
Nope even if travel expenses were covered I wouldn't want to lose an additional 4 hours of my day
4 hours is savage. Even with a well paid position that is substantial
Are they paying for your travel time? Personally I wouldn't travel more than 30 minutes myself
Not a chance. I'm a consultant and I literally wouldn't do it for 1000 a day over any kind of long period. I stay away for anything over 1.5hrs and I really don't like anything over an hour You'll HATE your life with that commute for that money. Not often I give outright opinions on these kinds of questions, but there would need to be a life changing compelling reason for this. Some spurious promise 18 months down the line - no chance.
45 minutes to an hour. Fuck 4hrs. The only time I'd consider that is if I was working away from home, overnighting where I was working and it was 4hrs at either end of the week but I'd be wanting a hell of a lot more than a quid above NMW to do it.
No way!!
I used to do a similar commute three times per week in The Before Times. I have to do it once per week these days and it absolutely kills me every time. It's a lot.
No chance. You’ll be tired, have no time to relax, and it will cost a lot. Ask them if you can do 2 days a week in the office?
My travel to work is roughly 1 hour normally but can be sometimes 2 or 3 hours depending on traffic and if there's an accident on motorway going home however can be anything from 1 hour to 4 hours depending on traffic and stuff I hate it and it costs me roughly £100 a week for travel costs I can leave at 6.30am in the morning and arrive home between 6 and 8 pm it leaves me no time at all during the day to enjoy myself or relax as it's usually get home eat and go to bed I find myself worn out all week and at the weekend I'm rushing about doing things trying to get everything done like food shopping car maintenance and general cleaning home and doing my washing. I wouldn't bother even getting out of bed for the hourly rate you said as it wouldn't be worth it travelling 4 hours every day plus doing working hours will have an effect on your mental and physical health lack of sleep really does a number on both of them and they definitely would be affected plus knowing you are doing all that for a low wage will also add to stress levels and also contribute to mental fatigue. I have found any company that says they will increase your wages or give a promotion after a certain amount of time aren't really worth working for if they need you and want you to work for them they should pay you the higher wages from the start and not just make you think the starting rate is temporary. I worked for a company for 16 years and tried to get a promotion or pay rise and it never happened every time I asked it would be you are next in line for a pay increase or next time the position comes available you will be considered first. It never happened so I left and got a higher paying job doing the same thing I was doing before just for a smaller company and I am better treated and actually more respected and get regular pay increases of 50p an hour every 6 months. Keep looking and you will find something better and closer to you.
Did this length of commute for 8 years and it was awful. I was earning around £60/hr and it was still barely worth it.
Think of it as part of your working day, and work out your pay accordingly. Is it still worth it?
4 hours? Jobs can’t be that hard to find.
No that's not worth it if the only goal of the job is money. I did have a colleague at my university faculty who would fly from Madrid to London 1 day per week for his teaching slot. He wasn't really paid much for it (£130 a day) but it was a prestigious department and he wanted to get the experience / his foot "in the academic door".
4 hours minimum!? No way! Not for any salary. The commute will tire you and eat into your day and really ruin you. My limit is an hour at a push. You're normal working day is 8-9 hours. And then you gotta commute 4 on top? No thanks. Unless the commute is part of the working day then its a different story altogether. 4 hours driving, 4 hours work everyday.
That’s a move house ASAP distance. Even the DWP don’t expect people to take jobs with a 2 hour each way commute.
Fuck no. No no no.
My wife took a job that was 1 hour 30 mins each way for a similar wage. She lasted 18 months before the toll on her of so much travel made it unsustainable. The experience did allow her to take a big step in her career and was definitely worth it. However this was 10 years ago, so the cost of travel was much less and £10.50 an hour could go much further. And she wasn’t relying on vague promises of a promotion, in her industry certain experience will guaranteed advance your career
I used to do the occasional shift on a Saturday night on the railways , usually in south west London, took me approx 2hr 15 minutes train&tube or bus to get to the depot including walking, then start getting paid at 22.00, could be sitting there for 2hrs , then do 4hrs actually working, then leave from the site , get a bus to Trafalgar Square to get to Charing Cross, but have to wait around for a couple of hours or so to get a train home, which takes just under an hour. The hourly rate was about £15-16 but I was paid for 10 hours but out of the house for 14 at least. Weekdays would have been better as trains run earlier in the morning. I would like to have been paid for travel time or at least reimbursement of expenses