JOIN USThe Harris interactive poll commissioned by The Workforce Institute also revealed that 48 per cent of people said commuting has a significant impact on their job satisfaction and 32 per cent considered the commute when they chose their current job.
“Where possible, putting policies in place to allow employees to travel during non-peak hours or work from home can increase employee satisfaction, without a negative impact on the bottom line,” Joyce Maroney, director of the institute, a think tank established by the workforce management solution company Kronos Inc, said is a statement.
Eighty-three per cent of workers questioned in the survey said they drove to work alone and 9 per cent used a carpool. Only 11 per cent of workers opted for mass transit, 10 per cent said they walked to work and some people used more than one mode of transport to commute.
Fifteen per cent of people who took part in the online survey said they would change jobs for a shorter commute and 11 per cent said the time spent commuting had a negative impact on their life-work balance.
“Managers should be mindful of the time their employees spend commuting as our survey shows it has a significant impact on job satisfaction,” said Maroney.
One-third of workers said their round-trip commute was between 30 minutes and an hour, while 16 per cent spent between one and two hours getting back and forth to work.
Nearly everyone had a nightmare, or worst commute ever story, with 7 per cent saying it had taken five hours or more, and another 30 per cent spending more than two hours.
About three-quarters of people listen to music while commuting, 22 per cent enjoy quiet time and 18 per cent talk on the phone. Only 7 per cent read a book or magazine and 4 per cent do some work.
Only 6 per cent of workers are paid for the time they spent commuting and just 14 per cent of adults who commute have the option of working from home. But 27 per cent of people who don’t have that option said if they were given the technology they think they could work effectively from home.
If workers could spend less time commuting, 50 per cent said they would use the extra time to sleep, 42 per cent would relax, 33 per cent would spend more time with their family and 28 would exercise.