Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Flexible benefitsHR practicePay & benefitsWork-life balance

Spotlight on: weekday renters

by Personnel Today 17 Apr 2007
by Personnel Today 17 Apr 2007

Just getting to work can be stressful, exhausting and costly for some. That’s why Judy Niner, having spent years living in Oxfordshire and commuting to West London, decided to launch an online service, Mondaytofriday.com, to help employers find temporary, weekday accommodation for staff.

“I was fed up with getting up at 5.30am, and when I stayed in town with friends there was real pressure to be there at a certain time, or to stay up late chatting,” she says. “I didn’t want the cost of renting an entire flat myself, so I rented a friend’s room she wasn’t using, and then rented out my flat in Oxford.”

Web opportunity

It worked so well that Niner spotted a web opportunity for would-be landlords to rent out empty space to non-local workers, providing a more informal alternative to staying in a characterless hotel.

The market for weekday rents is growing, and ­Mondaytofriday.com’s database has increased 300% in the past year. Employers reap the benefits from improved staff morale, and the workers feel fresher when they arrive for work.

Mary Peirce, who had been enduring a three-hour commute before she swapped her cottage in Norfolk for a flat in East London during the week, says: “Weekday renting means I can go home and get a good night’s sleep. It gives me the luxury of a work-life balance. I can work later away from home and not feel like I am missing anything.”

Sharing accommodation in someone’s home may not replace the comforting routine of your own bed, but Niner found that it allowed her to enjoy the social side of her job, networking and girls’ nights out, without someone waiting up for her.

“We all need to take jobs where the right jobs are,” she says. “The fact is that working away from home is not ideal for anyone, but being in a home is so much better than in an awful soul-less hotel.”

Reaping the benefits

In financial terms, weekday accommodation in a flat or rented room can prove more cost-effective than staying in a hotel. Niner reports that her mortgage in Norfolk plus the cost of her weekday renting is probably about half the cost of buying a flat in London.

Weekday renting is also an excellent way for new staff to test out a job or an area before they commit to a complete relocation.

But is avoiding a couple of hours on a train every day really worth being away from the routine of home, and seeing loved ones?

The secret to making it a success is establishing respect and ground-rules with your landlord, according to Peirce.

Most importantly, she feels more energised and productive at work – something HR should consider when managing staff with long commutes.

by Lucy Freeman

Home from home

  • 52% of lodgers save more than two hours commuting each day.
  • 28% save up to £250 per month on commuting.
  • 41% have adopted a greener attitude by walking or cycling to work.
  • A typical weekday rental costs around 60% of the usual week-long rental.
  • UK staff have the longest commute in Europe.
  • 800,000 people commute to London for work.
  • Commuting in the UK results in emissions of 13.1 million tonnes of carbon per annum, and to offset this pollution we would need to plant more than 17 million trees each year.

Source: Mondaytofriday.com

Personnel Today
Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Buncefield report finds flaws in training and advice for oil industry staff
next post
Pulling a sickie: CBI spells out the cost of ‘duvet’ days

You may also like

Hot summers, hot desks – employment law advice...

12 Aug 2022

Sharp rise in firms offering enhanced parental leave...

11 Aug 2022

Top earners’ pay soars by 10% while lowest-paid...

8 Aug 2022

EU member states to make carer work-life balance...

5 Aug 2022

Office could be sanctuary for workers fearing winter...

4 Aug 2022

Inflation forecast to hit 13% in autumn says...

4 Aug 2022

Shell to pay workers a one-off 8% bonus

4 Aug 2022

BT strike: company ‘has stuck two fingers up...

29 Jul 2022

Police ‘let down’ by ministers with insufficient pay...

28 Jul 2022

UK employees increasingly seek temp work for extra...

28 Jul 2022
  • 6 reasons why work-based learning is better than traditional training PROMOTED | A recent Fortune/Deloitte survey found that 71% of CEOs are anticipating that this year’s biggest business disrupter...Read more
  • Strengthening Scotland’s public services through virtual recruiting PROMOTED | This website is Scotland's go-to place for job seekers looking to apply for roles in public services...Read more
  • What’s next for L&D? Enter Alchemist… PROMOTED | It’s time to turn off the tedious and get ready for interactive and immersive learning experiences...Read more
  • Simple mistakes are blighting the onboarding experience PROMOTED | The onboarding of new hires is a company’s best chance...Read more
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+