I got laid off from my job last October with ~10 years experience as an aerospace engineer at a big aerospace company doing CFD work. I interviewed with a smaller aerospace company located across the country in November, accepted the offer just before Christmas, and started the job end of January. The job offer came with the stipulation that I could work remotely for 6 months until August 1 and then would have to move halfway across the country to relocate. Halfway through the 6 month period, I realized this opportunity is not good enough for me to move across the country but definitely still good enough to be a remote employee, especially since I’ve been a remote employee for 6 months already.
I am supposed to be reporting for work in person 2 weeks from today. My boss has contacted me 3-4 times TOTAL throughout the 6 months to ask me the status of the relocation plan. Each time I respond with “I still plan to be there by August 1” even though I have known I don’t plan on going. The last time she contacted me about the move was the 2nd week of June, and haven’t heard from her since.
I clearly would like to stay with the company and continue working remotely, but I just don’t want to move from where I am. The biggest reason for not wanting to move is I like where I live and my friends/family/long term girlfriend are all here. Also, I became a homeowner in 2021 and my interest rate is a meager 2.7%. If I was to sell my house now I would have to pay way more for rent something 1/3 the size of my house and also I wont be able to be a homeowner again for a long time due to the exorbitantly high interest rates right now. The last point I’d like to make is I’ve been a remote employee for the last 4 years and can do my job from home, moving across the country is not going to make a difference
How do I go about this conversation? I understand it isn’t a good look to have this conversation with my boss two weeks before Im supposed to be there and especially when I told her just 6 weeks ago I’m still coming. But if she says no then I can just put in my two weeks notice and start looking for a new job. I really enjoy the work I’m doing and I feel Im finally at the point where I can bring real value to the company so I’d love to work something out with the company to stay where I am.
The last point I’ll make is there is a guy in the group who is the same age as me and has the same time in the industry as me, but the majority of his work has been in this subject matter specifically whereas it’s all new to me. He lives 1 hr away from work and he works from home 4 days and is in office 1 day.