In a busy job market, a question that comes up a lot when speaking with clients and candidates is, what is a reasonable commute?
In the last week alone I have had people prepared to commute the following:
- 15 minutes in the car
- 1 hour and a half in the car
- 50 minute walk
- 2 hours each way in the car, 3 days a week
- 1 hour 20 minutes on the train
Do any of these seem unreasonable?
I try and judge it on how it would affect your quality of life. For example, I travel for about 1 hour and 40 minutes a day, and I don't mind it at all. I quite like the time it gives me to switch off from my day. But when I get stuck in a traffic jam and my commute increases to more than 2 hours... I get really fed up! I get home late and I miss my ballroom dance class! Yes, that's right... I said ballroom dance class.
But we're all different, aren't we? I have spoken to people that are more than happy to spend hours in the car commuting for their dream job.
I guess it's all relative to what you want but I truly believe that if your commute is any longer than an hour each way, 5 days a week... it's just too much for most people, and it can start to affect your health. Have a read of this article to see how long term commuting can affect your quality of life. Do take it into consideration next time you're thinking about a long commute. You can't put a price on a good work-life balance.
Whenever we tend to consider a new job very few of us give too much thought to the length of time it might take to travel to our place of work each day, if it’s not too far away and we drive or have good, accessible public transport. However, there are many people who travel unbelievably long distances to and from work each day. In fact, take London, for example. There are even workers who will fly in and out from France and Belgium and even further afield every day! But why do they choose to do this, what is the cost and do they have any alternative solutions?
Read the original article here