Employee happiness reduces with increase in commute times: Study

The more time it takes to commute to work, the less happy employees become, as per a study by Tracking Happiness.

When respondents were asked how long it took them to commute to work, over 25 per cent said they travelled less than 10 minutes to work. About 15 per cent said they travelled less than an hour, while more than 10 per cent travelled for less than 50 minutes. About two per cent admitted to travelling less than 90 minutes to work, one way. The median respondent of the survey took less than 40 minutes to travel to work (one way).

On comparing commute times with average employee happiness scores, a negative correlation became evident. It was found that the happiness of employees decreased when their commuting time increased.

There was observed a relative stability in terms of average happiness scores at work up to a commute time of an hour. However, happiness scores fell drastically the moment commuting consumed over an hour.

Another interesting revelation was that the Millennials are the most happy with the remote working arrangement.

Of the 12,455 respondents who were part of the survey, it is the younger lot that appears to be more keen to work remotely.

We found that the happiness of Millennials increased the most as a result of working remotely.

For instance, Millennials who were allowed to spend an extra full day remotely, exhibited a four per cent increase in their happiness at work on average!

Another interesting revelation is that maximum happiness at work is experienced by the youngest and oldest generations. Also, return to in-office work post almost two years of remove work is reducing the happiness of employees. Those who were made to return to office after enjoying work from home were relatively less happy at work.