SURVEY FINDS 73% OF WORKERS WANT TO BE PAID FOR TRAVEL
EMPLOYEES HAD ENOUGH OF SITTING IN TRAFFIC AND WAITING FOR DELAYED TRAINS FOR FREE
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS DRIVE MILES BEFORE ‘STARTING’ WORKING DAY
CASH FOR COMMUTING COULD BECOME MORE COMMON
Almost three quarters of workers in the UK want to be paid for their work commute, employment expert Randstad has found.
With 32m cars on the country’s roads and with rail services blighted by industrial action, an online poll on Randstad.co.uk revealed 73% of employees now want travel time to be included in their working day.
According to the Office for National Statistics, commuters spend almost an hour travelling for work but there has been a huge increase in the number of workers spending two hours or more a day getting to and from their workplace.
The rise in “super commuters” means an estimated 3.7 million employees spend at least 10 hours a week travelling to and from work - almost equivalent to working an extra day-and-a-half.
Longer commutes has led to a boom in the number of employees opening their laptops or answering work emails and phone calls on their commute but construction workers must instead bear the brunt of winding traffic jams.
Owen Goodhead, managing director of construction recruiter Randstad, said: “Very few construction workers work from home so location and travel is one of the most important motivators for job searchers. While it would be more convenient to work near home the reality is that most people travel to where work is.
“But with congested roads and unreliable train services, the reality is that commuting to work can be a stressful and time consuming experience so it’s no surprise the number of working commuters has risen.
“Commuting doesn't just affect blue collar workers - those who often load up the van and pick up their colleagues on their way to a job - but also white collar ones who shuttle between sites on a daily basis.
“In construction, men and women are on-site before most of us are even awake and even though the law is clear that employers are free to determine the rate of pay for time spent travelling, it remains rare.
“But attitudes are changing and there might come a time when cash for commuting becomes more common.”
- ENDS –
NOTES TO EDITORS
Survey question: Should travel time be considered part of the working day?
347 votes in total
Yes: 253
No: 94
The Randstad group is the second largest recruitment HR services providers in the world
with a top five position in the UK and a top three position in fifteen countries including the US, France and Germany.
In the UK, Randstad’s business lines serve the public and private sectors across Accounting and Financial services; Business Support; Construction, Property and Engineering; Education; Health and Social Care; Interim Management and Search; Human Resources; IT; Legal; Retail; Sales, Marketing and Creative; Student and Worker Support and In-House and Managed Services.
Randstad has 1,600 corporate employees in the UK, working in 255 locations. UK revenue in 2015 was €909.5 million. Randstad was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Diemen, the Netherlands. Randstad Holding nv is listed on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam. For more information see www.randstad.co.uk and www.randstad.com.
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