TG Escapes Blog
Kill the Commute Before It Kills You
This week, BBC Breakfast is sharing the findings of its recently commissioned survey of the UK’s 30 million plus commuters. It should come as no surprise that almost a quarter of them find it stressful, and this figure rises to well over a third (38%) for those who travel to and from work by train. Another recent report has found that the average rail commuter pays up to six times more for their fares than their European counterparts, whilst a survey by the TUC late last year highlighted how there has been a significant rise in the length of commute for many people.
High house prices and soaring rents, notably in London but also in lots of other towns and cities across the country, have forced many people to live further away from their places of work. Coupled with a lack of spending on roads and railways and cuts in bus services in many suburban and rural areas, this means a longer, more expensive and frequently delayed commute for a great many people. During the last decade, the numbers who spend two hours or more travelling to and from work, has leapt by 72% to over 3 million.
Whilst there are a few who see this time as valuable me time in which to catch up on reading, listening to music and podcasts or watching iplayer, the reality for most is that it is time spent trapped behind the wheel in dreadful traffic or squashed into a metal box with a bunch of strangers, some of whom may smell like flowers but many of whom won’t. And then there are the random, frequently inexplicable and unexplained stoppages, which serve to heap an extra layer of high level mental trauma onto a situation already laced with a good dollop of low level stress.
Commuting time is time not spent with your family; exercising away the extra Christmas pounds; creating the lovely healthy dishes you resolved to feed yourself this new year or simply relaxing. It is a time in which stress levels are likely to be raised for fairly protracted periods of time, which is not good for our health, either mentally or physically.
In these modern times of hyper-connectivity, almost wherever in the country or even the world that you may be, there are surely few dinosaur employers left that cannot appreciate the benefits of working from home for at least part of the week. Particularly for the travel weary, long distance commuters in their ranks. So why not have a word with the boss about the potential improvement in your productivity that is likely to be achieved by spending a few days each week working from home.
It is likely to reap significant rewards in both your work and home life, although if it is to become a permanent arrangement it is a good idea to separate the work space and home space. A Garden Escape is an ideal solution to the problem, providing your very own, bespoke designed office no more than a minute or two commute away.
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