Job Update (a bit of a long one - sorry)

[meriad]

Well, four days in and it's OK.... it is very very different to my previous job, which was expected. The team of EA's I'm working with (EA = Executive Assistant, ie posh word for secretary ) are brilliant; and the really nice thing is that, all bar one, are my age range. These first four days were quite boring as most people are on holiday and I haven't been given a proper handover yet, so was sitting twiddling thumbs quite a bit, but I'll have a proper handover next week and then the week after that it'll be full on. It's a very typical EA role of calendar management, travel and expenses - nothing overly complicated, just very busy with loads and loads of meetings every day. The company itself is a very steady and solid one, and provided I'm happy and they are happy, then there is no reason I can't stay on there until I retire which is quite nice. The past three months job hunting are not some I wish to repeat in a hurry.

Sadly the commute is as daft as I thought it would be, both from a timing, but more so from a financial point of view. I usually commute from a station called West Byfleet, but it's not ideal for this job because of the lack of trains, or rather the bad timing of the trains that there are. My working hours are 9am - 6pm. To make those work from West Byfleet, I would need to catch a 7.30am which gets me into the office at 8.40. The next train from West Byfleet would only get me in for 9.10. Then in the evening, if I leave at 6, I won't make the 6.20pm train (I'll miss it by about 5 or 10 mins) and the next one is just before 7pm which means having to hang around at Waterloo for 25 / 30 mins. Yes, I could leave work late, but I usually work through my lunch break as it is, and really don't want to end up working nearly 2 hours extra for no additional compensation. I'm hoping that in time I can adjust my hours by 15 mins either way (and don't see why it can't be done), as that would help quite a bit. So for now I'm commuting from Woking as I have loads more options to/from Waterloo; but that better commute comes at a price - £44 a day, which is just ridiculous. Commuting from West Byfleet would reduce that by about £10 - which is still silly expensive, but marginally better. But,West Byfleet adds about an hour to my day, purely because of the travel and having that extra hour at home, makes such a difference. The team has a 3 days in the office policy, but this week and next I will be in the full week (ie four days because of Easter); but after that I'll drop down to the three days. The company itself actually is happy for everyone to work fully remote if they need to, but the EA team I work with have had issues in the past with no cover, or rather some people always being in and others taking the p***, so they've set up their own 3 day a week in rule (sigh )

I'll figure something out, but be prepared for the odd moaning post LOL, esp those on FB


xxxx

[JanB]

It's a pain in the pocket Ria.

Once you're settled in and have worked out what's best for you, you'll be a lot happier. And richer, hopefully.

Is there no way the company will pay something towards the travel costs?

I used yo get help, when I lived outside of London, but worked inside. They helped with the train tickets. Half, if I remember rightly. But that was a looong time ago.

[meriad]

Sadly no Jan, I've never come across a company that offers that these days. A&M, where I am now, do offer a season ticket loan scheme, but only after the probation period (which for all employees is 6 months); and even then that only works out cost effective if you travel in at least 3 if not 4 days a week. I need to sit down at work out costs properly on that one

[Workingman]

Ria, is driving an option? Waterloo is the same side of the river as you if the company has parking. If?

£44 a day is madness!

Another thing... It is said that getting a job whilst in work is easier than getting one from being out of work. It might be a long term plan to look at. Just saying.

I was once in an hotel in Woking but the work was next to Liverpool St station. I hated every second of it but, thankfully, it was only for two weeks.

Good luck. xxx

[JoM]

Not just expensive but that’s one hell of a long day Ria

Hopefully once you’ve settled you’ll be able to adjust your hours to work better around the trains, especially as you work through your lunch and they’re getting extra time out of you that way.

Glad that otherwise it’s going well though!

[Kaz]

Really glad it's going well Ria, but yikes at the train costs!

[jenniren]

Gosh that's a huge amount Ria, hope you can sort the travel to suit you better. It's very early days, fingers tightly crossed it all works out well for you xx

Sent from my SM-G996B using Tapatalk

[cruiser2]

Keep fit and cycle to work.

Good luck in your new job Now you are working you may find details of other positions which are not always advertised closer to home.

[Suff]

Hi Ria, I had a long chat with Grok. I don't remember exactly where you live (memory sucks), but I do know the rough location and I can look at the routes available to you. Having done this kind of commute before I know the pain.

So Grok recommends, if you want to drive a bit more and cut cost, to drive to Surbiton, use oyster card and pay £33.4 per day parking at the station car park. Granted I know the driving can be variable and that the M25 junction work is a problem, but it meets all your timing, the oyster card day return is capped at $16.60 per day for peak journeys. Grok calculates a £4 per day for fuel in that £33.4. If you use Justpark or look at other options, like Sainsbury's multi story at £7 per day reducing it to £27.6 per day, but increasing the walk to 5-7 minutes per day, you can reduce it more.

Have a look and check out your options. You can do this with Grok, ChatGPT or Claude. Some of the info is out of date and needs to be checked, like Grok had an out of date cost on the Oyster which I had to verify, this may also be true of the parking costs. Train times can also be checked.

But the bulk of the calculating and options are done for you.

[JoM]

Keep fit and cycle to work.

Good luck in your new job Now you are working you may find details of other positions which are not always advertised closer to home.

You’d have to be brave to cycle in Central London