KIRON CHATTERJEE OPINION Coping with a commute
The majority of the working population must commute to their job. But how and why does that commute affect their wellbeing? By Dr Kiron Chatterjee
T
HE WELLBEING OF the population has become a major concern for researchers and policymakers. The journey to and from work consumes about one hour per
day for the average commuter and two hours per day for one in seven commuters. It has been found to be one of the least enjoyable daytime activities. Commuting is therefore a potentially relevant factor for the wellbeing of the working population. Detailed research has been carried out to find out what affects the commuting experience and has shown that higher stress occurs for those with longer commute durations and more unpredictable conditions. Researchers have come up with a standardised way of measuring satisfaction with the commute and found that those who walk and cycle to work tend to have the highest satisfaction, while those using public transport have the lowest. And finding ways to use commute journeys productively has been shown to be beneficial: Those who find that the commute has value beyond arriving at the destination have higher commute satisfaction. But while this research is informative, it does not tell us how commuting affects overall personal wellbeing – how we are doing on the whole as individuals. The ‘Commuting and Wellbeing Study’ set out
to get a full picture of the impact of commuting on our lives. The study used panel data from Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study, which tracks the lives of a large, representative sample of households in England each year. The dataset allowed us to examine how changes in different aspects of wellbeing from one year to the next were related to changing commuting circumstances for more than 26,000 workers in England over a five-year period. We found that how long it takes to get to
work affects wellbeing in a number of ways. Each additional minute of commuting time (all else being equal) reduces job satisfaction, reduces leisure time satisfaction, increases strain in people’s lives and worsens mental health. The mode of transport makes a difference. Those who walk or cycle to work do not report reductions in leisure time satisfaction in the same way as other commuters which is probably because active commuting is seen as a beneficial use of time (eg, for getting exercise). Those with long commutes by rail do not have the level of strain of those with long commutes by car – or those with shorter rail commutes. Perhaps because those on longer rail journeys are more likely to get a seat and have comfortable conditions to relax or even to work. Those who work from home are found to have
higher job satisfaction and leisure time satisfaction than those who travel to work. Whilst we found that longer commute times have adverse wellbeing effects for job satisfaction, and even more markedly for leisure time satisfaction, they were not found to have a large impact on life satisfaction overall, at least in the short-term. Our analysis indicated that this is because people take on longer commute times for jobs which provide higher salaries and other benefits which serve to increase life satisfaction. This does not mean that the other negative impacts of longer commutes can be disregarded – they are still experienced by those in question. Furthermore, we found that those persisting with long commutes for a number of years tended to have consistently lower life satisfaction than other workers. There appears to be a group of commuters who accept unfavourable commutes and are unable or unwilling to change them in spite of their adverse impacts in the long run.
Our findings have particularly important implications for employers. An additional 20 minutes of commuting each day has (on average) the equivalent effect on job satisfaction as a 19% reduction in income – this is a loss of £4,080 per annum for someone earning £21,600 (the median value for our sample). We also found that employees with longer commute times are more likely to change job, which has implications for staff retention. The overall message for employers is that job satisfaction can be improved if workers have opportunities to reduce their time spent commuting, to walk or cycle to work and to work from home. The transport sector can only do so much
to enhance the options available to people and make journeys quicker and more pleasant. It is also a matter of housing, job opportunities and employment practices. Our study was undertaken in partnership with the Department for Transport and with representation from the Department of Health, Department for Communities and Local Government, Office for National Statistics and the What Works Centre for Wellbeing; I hope the study will encourage stakeholders to come together to improve the daily lives of working people. n
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Kiron Chatterjee is Associate Professor in Travel Behaviour at the University of the West of England, Bristol. The Commuting & Wellbeing study was led by Dr Chatterjee at UWE and ran for eighteen months from February 2016 to July 2017. A summary report from the study is available at:
travelbehaviour.com/outputs- commuting-wellbeing
Email
kiron.chatterjee@
uwe.ac.uk WINTER 2018 SOCIETY NOW 17
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