Anybody give employment advice?

Sorry - correction - "it doesn't change the length of time you're travelling each day"
By this I mean it's still the same stress but you are in effect paid for it.

I was once given "extra" travelling time. The job moved to a town some distance away and I was given a mileage and time allowance for the difference it made to my day.
Whilst this is a good compromise it doesn't change the lem
Nothing of time you are travelling.

Part time is the most likely solution for your friend. She should know which is the lightest day if the week for her employer and not work that day.

If her type oc work allows it, another idea is to work from home one day a week. This is increasingly common as communication improve. I did it myself. Works like a charm on tiredness.

A tbird possibility is to stay overnight near the new employment. Many people do that and negotiate two long days, with time off in lieu at the beginning or end of the week. Works well in jobs where being present is necessary.

Good luck. There are always options.

Perhaps she could go part time, only working 3 or 4 days a week but be willing to fill in a specified number of weeks a year when the family are away.

At 62 she cannot be more than five years from retirement and when she reaches that age the company will have to do without her, indispensable or not. Perhaps now is the time for them to slowly start the process.

Just read your second post Newquay I think your friend has an excellent chance of renegotiating her terms of employment. If the family rely on her to hold the fort to enable them to have a holiday then they must trust her. Would they want to be forced into taking someone else on at short notice if your friend becomes Ill from stress and fatigue ? I doubt it. She must be strong and list her values to them and ask to renegotiate her terms/hours based on the move and the impact this has had on her life (making sure they realize what an awkward position they would be put in if she left suddenly) it mustn't come across as blackmail though!

Newquay your friend should not have accepted the move in the first place without negotiating some revised terms of employment. When a company moves (it does happen quite a bit for all sorts of reasons) they usually make provision for those who will be forced to travel much greater distances from home to work than they did when their contract began. Some people decide that they are unable to do this and might be asked to be made redundant. Your friend should approach her employer and say that she has tried to accommodate the move but is finding the traveling times to be unacceptable and it is adding a lot of time onto her working day and causing her to be very tired and stressed. She should ask to be either compensated for this and/or to have the additional traveling (which was never part of her contract) taken as part of her day. Really she should have done this prior to moving but she could say she has tried it out but the impact of the additional traveling is making her ill. We are a small family company (only 7 people) and we literally bend over backwards to help our employees. We have one guy who's wife works shifts and we allow him to come in an hour later every other week to accommodate this. I could give you lots of other examples too. Small employers are usually very helpful and accommodating where possible and I would be glad to allow a valued member of staff extra time for traveling especially if by moving premises it was me that caused the problem in the first place.

Would she consider asking for redundancy? But that wouldn't make up for long term lost income. Could she afford to reduce her hours? It's a hard situation for her

Yes I know. It she can't carry on like this. She's heading for a breakdown and then what would they do? They tried a couple of temps who just couldn't stand it either!

I would be amazed if travelling time became part of her working day. I cannot see them agreeing to that although a lot depends on how much they want to keep her. I have never heard of that before. Good luck.

Depends if she has a contract , be a problem for her employers if the stress caused her to go on the sick whilst the daughter was off work too!

Thanks Tanith I thought that too. I think it frightened them when she was taken ill. When she returned a couple of days later (cos the whole family were going on holiday leaving her on her own again) she said I just can't carry on like this. They were just concerned about their holiday. She is a doormat. Has tried to get other jobs but her age is against her. I will suggest she has a serious talk with them on their return and she just needs to do what she can while they're away and not try to do everything like she always does and they've come to expect.

Nothing ventured nothing gained, that's a lot of work hours each week they would lose and if they are a small firm they may not be able to afford it. She loses nothing by asking but they don't have to agree.