Commuter Benefits May Help Soften The Blow of Back-to-Office Pushes

A recent survey determined that nearly half of all workers singled out their commute as the largest annoyance associated with returning to on-site work.

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In addition to the stress and frustration, commutes obviously have a negative effect on worker bottom lines, as well, given the increase in gas, transit, and/or other vehicle-related expenses. In fact, the Federal Reserve recently released some data showing that returning to the office effectively reduced by 2% to 3% the net earnings of US employees who were working at home at least part-time during the pandemic.

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And of course, commutes also have a net negative impact on the most precious commodity of all - time. A recent survey conducted on behalf of Newsweek indicates that more than half of workers think that commute time should be compensated in some way, while another study recently showed that about 1 in 4 employees want time spent commuting to be accounted for as equivalent to any other time spent on the job working. 

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As for how much time is lost to commutes, a recent analysis from the National Bureau of Economic Research determined that US workers averaged nearly an hour of time saved per day during the pandemic as a result of reduced and eliminated commutes. More recently, US workers are saving a total of about 2 hours per week in 2021 and 2022 when accounting for all remote, hybrid, and other commute–reducing work arrangements - although that figure is anticipated to drop to about 1 hour per week in long-term post-pandemic forecasts.

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It’s also worth noting that studies have determined employers also benefit from the time saved by employees, some of which was spent completing additional tasks for work instead of commuting. Employers also benefit via improved talent attraction and retention results, as well.

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Despite the negative feelings surrounding commutes amongst the employee population, however, only a very small percentage of employers offer any sort of commute-related employee benefit or perk, with only a little more than 1% of job postings citing commuter benefits. That number is growing, however, with 43% more companies including reference to commuter benefits in their job postings over just the last 2 years.

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This rise in commuter benefit advertising/offering is especially noteworthy in light of the fact that remote workers have come to occupy a substantially larger portion of the workforce, with the number of job postings for remote work increasing by 205% since the early stages of the pandemic. Further, remote work seems fairly entrenched and stable at this point, with only a 3.7% reduction in remote job postings between April of 2022 and April of 2023.

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Of course, even though remote work is here to stay, there are some jobs that will always primarily be done on-site at a specific location. Even then, however, commuter perks can help mitigate the negative impacts. Free meals for employees when they have to come into the office, for example, was an appealing proposition to more than half of Newsweek’s survey respondents from the previously mentioned data set. 

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As employers continue making adjustments to their talent and workforce management strategies, the cost-benefit analysis is looking more and more solid favorable toward commuter benefits, especially with employees increasingly prioritizing quality of life considerations in their work/life balance assessments. Still, with a relatively small proportion of employers providing these offerings as a part of their employee benefits and perks packages, forward-looking companies, benefits advisors, and human resources managers have a great opportunity to gain a direct advantage over the competition. 

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