The commuting grind is seeing many parents losing out on large chunks of their children growing up, while many attending third level institutions are missing the normal student experience, according to Prof. Finian Buckley, professor of work and organisational psychology at Dublin City University’s (DCU’s) business school.
Prof. Buckley was involved in research on commuting over a decade ago involving just under 200 commuters to the IFSC.
“We were looking at the impact of excessive commuting on well-being and whether it spilled over into the workplace. It was no surprise to find that those who walked to work had less stress and negative impact and were more engaged in their work,” he said.
“Those who travelled by train or bus were slightly more negatively affected than those who travelled by car. This was because they had less control if they were held up and also because of the negative things associated with buses and trains such as people being on top of one another,” Prof. Buckley said.
“My perception is that we are back to Celtic Tiger experiences again. Although we now have a slightly better public transport system, I think we would find very similar results if we were to do further research now,” he said.
As a result of the commuting grind, many parents don’t ever get a chance to help their children with homework or read them a goodnight story. A lot only get the chance to do that at weekends.
“While people with long commutes should be getting the chance to recharge and have a bit of rest and relaxation at weekends, those who are parents are trying to maximise quality time with their children.”
Where people can find alternatives to the commuting grind, they are taking them up and roads have improved in recent years, with some attempt at decentralisation, but the vast majority of jobs are within eight miles of Dublin city centre, Prof. Buckley said.
Many people are commuting from places such as north Cavan and Longford, he said.
Student commutes
Rising rents are seeing more students commute. “Even student accommodation has got prohibitively expensive and more and more students are taking the decision to base themselves at home.
What we are seeing is that some students are taking a chance and coming into college three days a week rather than five and that can impact on their results. You can catch up on a certain amount but it is difficult.
Students on the commuting grind have a lesser student experience as they are unable to take part in sports and join clubs and societies as well as the whole social life that is built around universities, Prof. Buckley said.
“We had begun to put more lectures online although I’m not suggesting this is no different to attending traditional lectures. It can soften the difficulty a little to use technology.”
DCU is now planning to put all lectures online. “We suspect that the Covid-19 crisis may involve university closures at some point in the future.
“Indeed, our technology is such that from next week, I will be delivering some of my classes live from my living room at home, to students in their homes all over the island and overseas,” said Prof. Buckley.
Sleep
Dr. Eddie Murphy, clinical psychologist and adjunct associate professor at University College Dublin (UCD) school of psychology, said that lengthy commutes can cause a huge amount of stress that impact on individual mental health.
“The biggest issue is sleep. Sleep disturbance is linked to health-related issues such as hypertension and obesity. It can cause anxiety and can affect relationships and family life,” he said.
The commuting grind can impact on people’s relationships with their children, hobbies and socialising, Dr. Murphy said. “In bad weather, they are up and home in the dark.”
In cases where long-term commuting is making people sick, they may have to re-evaluate the situation, Dr. Murphy said.
If a person is unhappy, it will impact on their body and mind. Re-evaluation may involve upskilling or taking a financial hit for the benefit of more locally based work.
Social care, Dr. Murphy suggested, could be an option for many. “There is particularly a need for more men in this area and those who are in touch with the land may find it suits them.”
Remote working
While technology experts are predicting an increase in remote working in the future, at present it is not widespread. Prof. Buckley said there are lots of answers as to why it is not as common as it might be in this country.
“From an employer’s perspective, the drawbacks might be: can I trust my employees not to take advantage and slack-off?; less collaboration and collective culture; less effective teamwork; less control – it may be hard to manage someone you cannot see; less immediate availability; more remote communication, not being as effective as face-to-face; and potential insurance issues,” he said.
However, there are also advantages for employers.
“These could include: lower office space costs; lower resource costs such as electricity, car parking, canteen and services; productivity on non-collaborative tasks is higher; and happier, less stressed employees mean higher engagement and job satisfaction,” said Prof. Buckley.
“There are lots of advantages from the employee perspective. These include: better work-home life balance and all the positives that go with this; reduced stress without the commute; it is easier to plan, schedule and control work in a day or week; and less costs, if managed,” he said.
There are volumes of research on these areas but it takes a leap of faith by both employer and employee to test remote working effectiveness, said Prof. Buckley.
“I think in the coming weeks we will have a lot of opportunity to see if remote working can work for lots of organisations, as it may be enforced on them.”