Office workers' biggest concern? – Commuting

Distributed office models could help relieve employee anxiety

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As offices gradually reopen, companies are making sure sanitation and social distancing protocols tick all the right boxes for people to feel as safe as possible when back in the workplace.

But for workers, there’s a bigger concern before they even arrive: the commute.

The prospect of cramming into confined spaces on mass transit is testing their nerves.

Which is why over a third of people who previously took public transportation to work will seek other forms of travel in the immediate weeks and months after the pandemic, according to JLL’s Workplace Experience Survey.

But the convenience of working from home for the last few months has also had an impact. Nearly half the global respondents surveyed said “less or no commute” had been the best part about working from home.

“As companies evaluate strategies for reopening their offices, a larger issue surfaces: how will employees safely commute to their workplace?” says Carol Hodgson, Director, Global Research, at JLL. “Avoiding the time, expense and the environmental impact of daily commutes has been a silver lining of the coronavirus pandemic.”