Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Feb 2004
- Posts
- 8,221
- Location
- North East
I think I'd want a bonus for working away, as well as a food allowance and decent board.
When I travel with work I get my own room, normaly in a hilton type business hotel, normaly Breakfast is in the room price but if not i get 7:50 for beckfast, 15 for lunch and then 25 for dinner,
theres no way I would travel for work and share a room...
I'm guessing you either are quite high up, have a generous company or your company just like wasting money.
No way in hell I would accept that.
Such a dramatic reduction in quality of life - for £20 per night?
Unless I was in dire financial need, I would be handing in my notice right away.
Can you make some story up that you have certain problems that you don't want to share with colleagues so you get your own room?
For instance, if I roomed with somebody I'd get on their nerves because I go to the toilet around 6 times a night.
I am willing to bet a lot of companies will site poor economic conditions and will use it to push employees to the limit because they know the market is tough. What normally happens is the talented staff leave and companies are left with incompetent idiots (who can't get a job elsewhere) which results in a massive loss in the company's potential which has a knock on effect to earnings. Seen it many a time, but it's the short-term gain which is everything, obviously.
Regarding the general question of "food allowance": We also get an allocation of up to £15 per night when we are overseas (I work at a University). That is, we can claim back up to £15 per night in food costs - not that I receive the £15 anyway with the view to it being spent on food. We would never in a million years be expected to share a hotel room though... That's fairly rancid.
If I have a "free" night (i.e. one where I can make my own eating arrangements) then £15 per night is usually plenty. All major cities have places to eat cheaply, even if it's a McDonalds. Unfortunately these are fairly rare...
The problem comes with the pre-arranged dinners. At EU project meetings the dinner is something of an extension of the meeting. The things usually last 2-3hrs, and represent the "discussion" portion of the meeting. As such they aren't really optional... Mostly the host will choose the restaurant, and usually they choose high-end places that 'show off' the quality of the food in the city. These meals can often run at 60-100 euro.
Until recently we were able to reclaim all "reasonable" costs against our project budget (in the same way we do the flights and accommodation costs), but the University has now implemented a £15 per day food limit for some reason, which leaves me significantly out of pocket. I can lose out on two or three hundred euro per trip on a five-night meeting, which isn't something I can really afford to do on a regular basis.
Imagine spending 24/5 with work colleagues.