i currently work for a small dot com company (in Toronto) that recently merged with another small internet company. Last January, i decided to move back home (Hamilton, Ontario Canada, 45 min drive without traffic) to get my shit together. At the time, we all thought that the company i worked for was going to fold, so i went on a job search and found a job significantly closer to my home. The day i sent in my letter of acceptance, my boss called to beg me not to accept the new postion because the new company wanted to keep me on. i wasn’t too sure i wanted to do the commuting thing, but at the same time i liked my job. so i agreed to stay on providing they give me raise to cover they top the salary of the closer to home job offer. that turned out to be $35,000 CDN. to get back and forth from hamilton to toronto, 5 days a week costs me $269.00/month. i had recently asked my boss to subsidize my transportation costs to and from work. i have no expense report to hand in every month, but i’ve noticed, only because he asked to to write out some cheques for him, that he expenses his travel expenses ( 407 ETR, a highway that a pay-per-use, which he doesn’t even have to use!) and his wife’s cell phone and her BlackBerry handheld. He has basically told me that because i have these wonderful health benefits (100% medical,vision etc) that he cannot help me out. i’m trying to pay off all my old debts and am trying to save all that i can. i could just as easily find a job in hamilton, but if i do, i take all my knowledge with me and it leaves them with zero.
my fellow employees think that it it grossly unfair. that he should at least cover $169.00 because if i lived in toronto, it would cost $100 for a monthly pass.
What should i do? How should i approach him? Am i right for asking?