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The advantages of working close to home

The advantages of working close to home

Belgian traffic jams are getting worse and worse. Consequently, an increasing number of workers are becoming weary of long commuting times and wish to work closer to home. A recent survey by HR group Acerta makes this clear. StepStone lists the most significant conclusions.

Employees increasingly looking for jobs closer to home

While there are hundreds of kilometers of traffic jams on our roads every day, it turns out that more than 68% of all employees work inside a 20 km radius from where they live. While age has no influence on the distance travelled, salary earned does. The higher the salary of the job, the more kilometers travelled. Employees earning higher wages also are often provided a company car, which also plays a role.

Use of public transportation is not increasing

The car remains by far the most popular mode of transport, with no less than 71% of employees using the car to commute to work. While public transport has been stuck at around 5% for years, the (electric) bicycle is gaining popularity: 18% of employees now use their bicycle to go to work.

The advantages of working close to home

Working close to home obviously brings a great many advantages along with it. StepStone lists them for you:

  • Saving time is the most important factor. You will have much more time for your private life, given that you will spend fewer hours in your car; and this often goes together with having much less stress.
  • Not only will your private life benefit, but your social life will also receive a nice boost with all the time you save.
  • You will spend much less time commuting, will use your car less often and will thus also contribute to a better environment. Furthermore, it is good for your health to use public transportation or your bicycle more often.
  • You will be much more able to working productively. You will get a better night’s sleep, be less frustrated about traffic jams, and this will have a positive effect on your productivity. This will naturally lead to greater job satisfaction.

One major disadvantage could arise

While the advantages of working near home outweigh the disadvantages by a large margin, there is one disadvantage that can be decisive for your decision and your career:

  • If you do not live in a metropolitan area, it may be difficult to advance your career. Most international companies locate in and around the major cities. This is also where you will find the best paying jobs and career opportunities.

So if you have had enough of commuting all the time and are prepared to possibly scale back your career opportunities in order to give priority to your private life, then working close to home is ideal.

Source: Stepstone