With cities becoming more crowded, it’s only natural that people are relocating to more remote areas. While this trend offers city dwellers the space and solitude they want, it also brings an issue to the table: the dreaded commute. While nobody enjoys a long commute, evidence suggests that people are actually underestimating its effects by dismissing the time spent waiting for a train or bus or sitting in traffic feels as an unavoidable part of the work day.
There’s no escaping it, a long commute is most often seen as lost time for employees, while the vast majority of employers wouldn’t even consider counting it as work time. Of course, that time can be made more valuable by listening to music, audiobooks or podcasts when driving, or even reading or gaming while on public transport – but there’s only so much car karaoke you can do before it gets old. Also, everyone knows that focusing is especially difficult on a crowded train or bus, no matter what you’re doing. All in all, it seems like both companies and their employees often underestimate the psychological, emotional, and physical costs of longer travel times.
But as it turns out, long commutes are more than a waste of time – they can have a dramatic effect on an employee’s job performance and even on their overall happiness. They can also affect your organization’s hiring success and retention.
Let’s start from the beginning:
1. New hires
Most people factor in their potential commute when deciding whether to accept a new job or not, and naturally, long commute times frequently increase new-hire tardiness and absenteeism. It’s just common sense. However, now we have data that shows exactly how much of an impact the length of the commute affects new hires.
According to TLNT, Gate Gourmet, the world’s largest independent provider of airline catering, had a turnover rate of nearly 50 percent among new hires. After analyzing both internal and external data, they found that commute times (that averaged nearly 35 minutes) were actually the major cause of the new-hire performance and turnover problems. Consequently, the company changed its hiring criteria to put more weight on an applicant’s “accessibility to public transportation” and “how far the employee lived from the job site.” Following these measures, the firm reached “fully staffed” status for the first time and lowered unwanted turnover to 27 percent. Companies such as Xerox and KeyBank, as well as advisory firms including Kenexa, Workday, and Evolv have also found a connection in many jobs between commute time and new-hire retention and new hire success.
2. Employee retention
The value of living close to the workplace shouldn’t be underestimated by employers. Research by Evolv (now merged with Cornerstone) found that even having an extremely short commute distance (between 0 and 5 miles) “leads employees to remain at their jobs 20 percent longer.” Consultant Jeff Parks also found that at one manufacturer, a 30-45 minute commute resulted in a probability of quitting of more than 92 percent.
To prevent such issues, companies like Facebook and Imo offered annual bonuses ($7000 an $6000, respectively) to employees living closer to their headquarters – up to 1 mile for Facebook, and within 5 miles for Imo. These companies acknowledged the impact a longer commute had on its employees and took measures – and for good reason.
3. Productivity and wellbeing
Aside from being mind-numbingly dull, there is evidence to suggest that spending hours each day commuting has an adverse effect on general health and wellbeing. A study by the Office for National Statistics looking at commuting and personal wellbeing revealed that commuters are more likely to be anxious, dissatisfied and have the sense that their daily activities lack meaning than those who don’t have to travel to work even if they are paid more.
According to Business Insider, researchers from the University of the West of England found that each extra minute of commuting time reduces both job and leisure time satisfaction, as well as increases strain and worsens mental health for workers. They also reported that an additional 20 minutes of commuting per day has the same negative effect on job satisfaction as receiving a 19% pay cut. This raises the question whether a significant pay raise might counteract the negative effects of longer commutes. The previously mentioned ONS study denies this: Given the loss of personal wellbeing generally associated with commuting, the results suggest that other factors such as higher income or better housing may not fully compensate the individual commuter for the negative effects associated with travelling to work and that people may be making sub-optimal choices.
A study of more than 34,000 employees across all UK industries, developed by VitalityHealth, the University of Cambridge, RAND Europe and Mercer, revealed that those who commute to work in less than 30 minutes gain an additional seven days’ worth of productive time per year as opposed to those who commute for over an hour. The researchers also found that longer-commuting workers are 33 percent more likely to suffer from depression, 37 percent more likely to have financial worries, and 12 per cent more likely to report multiple aspects of work-related stress. They are also 46 percent more likely to get less than seven hours of sleep each night and 21 per cent more likely to be obese, according to the study.
What can you do?
There is a series of actions you can take to mitigate the effect of your employees’ commute, including:
- Conduct your own statistical analysis to identify if and by how much does commute time reduce the on-the-job success of recent hires in your organization, as well as how much it affects employee retention.
- Consider the commute when assessing candidates for a job – make sure you take into account the time spent as opposed to the distance traveled!
- Offer your employees flexible work options: working non-standard hours allows your employees to avoid rush hour traffic and even work around other personal engagements. Working remotely completely eliminates the commute, while also providing other benefits.
Most managers and HR professionals underestimate how much the commute affects their organization. This is a huge mistake, given how many potential negative business impacts it can have. What should you do? Work on identifying these effects inside your organization and be proactive about shortening your employees’ commutes, whether it means changing work hours, locations, or incentivizing them to move closer to the office.
