If you’ve had to return to the office lately, you may have enjoyed the face-to-face interaction with work colleagues and the chance to leave the house after a couple of years of working from home. Those little things we took for granted before the pandemic.
But one thing you probably haven’t missed is the commute. Whether you walk, cycle, drive, or take public transport – here’s how to have a happier commute.
How many people commute to work?
Around 500 million people around the world commute to work each day, with an average total journey time of 80 minutes – 40 minutes each way.
In the UK, the average total commute time leaps to around 1 hours 38 minutes, with commuters in East Anglia reporting the highest total average of 2 hours 25 minutes, while 10% in the North East of England travel for more than four hours every day, according to the results of a survey by Moovi, the public transport app.
Research from the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) shows that more than 3 million commuters spend two or more hours travelling to and from work – almost three-quarters (72%) as many as this time ten years ago, during which time the number of commuters travelling three or more hours a day has also risen by three-quarters (75%) from 500,000 to 800,000.
And the commute is something most of us just want to get out of the way, it’s nothing more than a means to the end goal of getting to work and getting back home, the trouble is, if the commute doesn’t go to plan then it can really ruin the rest of the day, so here are some top tips on how to have a happier commute.
How to improve your commute
The key to a happier commute is leaving the house on time and not hitting any unexpected problems along the way, but really, how often does that happen? So the people at Adzuna, the job site that searches thousands of other job sites so you don’t have to, took a more methodical approach and looked into the science behind a happier commute.
So if you skip breakfast before leaving the house, avoid eye contact with fellow commuters, or plug into social media for the entire journey, here’s why you might want to re-think how you approach the daily commute.
And if you want some interesting stats on UK commuter habits, this interactive .GOV infographic is really informative.
How do you tackle the daily commute? Share your top tips for a happier commute with our business community…
Image from Pablo by Buffer.
