Commutes Add Five Weeks Of Work Per Year

A study has calculated that employees spend nearly 200 hours a year travelling to and from work - adding around five weeks of unpaid 'work' per year.

The analysis, published on Monday by the Trade Union Council (TUC), marks the start of Work Wise UK's Commute Smart week, and found that congestion on the roads and public transport problems were significantly adding to people's commute times.

After analysing figures from the Office of National Statistics, the TUC also found that the average commute times for men were 26% greater than for women - an average of 6.2 minutes longer on each commuting journey.

Men spend an average of 219 hours commuting per year, compared to 174 hours for women - a gap of 45 hours over the 12 months.

The report also found that workers with the longest commutes tend to earn more than those with shorter journeys to work.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "Unnecessary long commutes are frustrating and expensive for staff, and bad for business too.

"Smarter working must be part of the modern economy. Staff want greater access to flexible and high quality home-working and employers need to do more to provide it.

"The link between long commutes and better pay is a concern as it can discriminate against women, who still bear the greatest share of childcare responsibilities, and do more than their fair share of work in the home. Eliminating the need for long commutes can also broaden access to a wider range of jobs for those unable to travel from home."

According to the report, the gender commuting gap is biggest in the South East, at 8.8 minutes difference between the sexes for each journey, while the East of England was 8.6 minutes and Scotland 7 minutes difference.

The gap was smallest in London at just 3.3 minutes difference for each journey. However, women in London have longer average commute times than men who work in every other part of the UK.

London has the longest commute times for both male and female workers at 37.8 minutes per journey each way, while Northern Ireland has the shortest at 22.4 minutes.

The TUC said that next year's London Olympics offered the perfect opportunity for workers in the capital to embrace smarter working such as home working and staggered start and finish times.

'With the 2012 Olympics set to bring many more people to the UK, employers and unions should consider how they can work together to manage the expected congestion and cut out some of these unnecessary rush-hour journeys."

Meanwhile, Chief Executive of Work Wise UK Phil Flaxton said: "In this day and age, old working practices dictating that employees must travel vast distances to sit at a desk every day are outdated.

"British workers are frustrated at the amount of wasted time caused by long, arduous journeys to and from work. Smart commuting, flexi-time and remote working can offer an ideal solution, giving a range of benefits for employees and employers alike."

(DW)