Commuting Impacts Job Satisfaction

I find long commuting in jammed roads & trains to be a pain in the ass. Starting the day with much of energy & vitality sapped before commencing work. People look at me cycling to work as though i'm a poor guy unable to afford a car (yes i'm a heartlander peasant) & i look at those who endure the pain of long commutes day after day, week after week, year after year & wonder why they put up with all those pain for a miserable paycheck.

Assuming 8 hours of sleep, there's 16 hours left. 2nd major chunk is work for most people. Assuming 9.5 hours of work(incl lunch) on a 5 day workweek there remain 24-8-9.5=6.5 hours left. Minus meals, shower there's not much left. After a long commute how much of the remaining leftover is left?

If a longer commute saps you 0.5hour longer than previous, it amounts to 11hrs/mth for an average of 22 working days. Imagine 11hrs/mth of precious life thrown away by being stuck in jam traffic which you have little control. Speaking of control it is also a reason why i like cycling as i'm in control & a form of exercise thus killing 2 birds at once.

Higher pay is not necessarily better if its downside of longer commuting & its associating drawbacks on other areas on life is bigger than the pay increment. Hence it is vital to learn how to have $ work hard for us & is 1 of the driving force behind my personal finance management.

Commuting impacts job satisfaction Poll

NEW YORK -
COMMUTING might not make you unwell but a new survey of US employees showed that 4%, or five million people, have called in sick because they could not face the trek to work.

The Harris Interactive poll commissioned by The Workforce Institute also revealed that 48% of people said commuting has a significant impact on their job satisfaction & 32% 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,' said Joyce Maroney, the director of the institute, a workplace issues think tank, said is a statement.

83% of workers questioned in the survey said they drove to work alone & 9% used a carpool.

Only 11% of workers opted for mass transit, 10% said they walked to work and some people used more than one mode of transport to commute.

15% of people who took part in the online survey said they would change jobs for a shorter commute & 11% said the time spent commuting had a negative impact on their life-work balance. -- REUTERS