Tyto’s latest ‘Cost of a London Commute’ study has shown that working from home will save workers an average of 23.5 days per year in travel time – which is the equivalent of £10,020 in unpaid time.
Remote working also saves commuters an average of £5,114 in travel costs, which is nearly a fifth (18%) of the average annual London net salary post-tax.
For parents requiring childcare, the picture is even bleaker, with the average cost of wraparound childcare required to cover commute times equating to £12.17 per day, or £2,873 per year – which is 10% of the average London net salary post-tax.
The study looks at the cost of a commute when traveling to London from the most popular commuter towns. Tyto anchored its research around a nominal London central station of Kings Cross. The costs measured are time and financial, but there are undoubtedly significant health and welfare costs which impact employees and their energy levels at work which are hard to objectify. These include:
- Greater restrictions on where you choose to live because you need to commute each day to London
- Higher property costs and less flexibility when securing schooling and childcare for children
- Less time with friends and family
- Less time for leisure and exercise
- Less time to focus on eating a fresh and healthy diet
- Less time to rest and recharge
- More stress from travelling during peak hours
- More apprehension about being exposed to viruses in cramped commuting spaces.
You can view the full findings here.
Brendon Craigie, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Tyto, said: “London commuters are suffering. Not just from the unpleasantness of commuting into London every day on overcrowded trains and the newly heightened health risks of being in extremely close proximity to others for extended periods of time. They are suffering financially, losing nearly a third of their post-tax salary to travel costs and wrap-around childcare. They are also suffering by losing the equivalent of almost 24 days of their lives per year to commuting. To add salt to the wound, London bound commuters are doing all of this suffering unpaid. This equates to doing the equivalent of £10,020 worth of unpaid overtime per year to get to the office.
“The technology industry is leading the way in the adoption of location agnostic working with companies like Remote, GitHub and Automattic leading the way. We think that is time for industry to follow the lead of the world’s most innovative companies, and to consider continuing flexible employment practices well after the threat of Coronavirus has passed as a permanent option for a new way of working.
“The financial, time, and health and welfare benefits to employees are considerable. We believe happier, healthier, and more financially secure employees are a great thing for industry. In our case as a PR company, we believe that the real winners are our clients because they get to work with the very best people we can attract, not just those who can do a daily London commute.”
