The psychological impact of daily commutes | MEDICUS 2024 Issue 2

The psychological impact of daily commutes

Credit: iStock.com / zodebala

The return of the commute is like a bowl of grapes—a mix of sweet and sour experiences. The chaos of busy weekdays, crowding and unexpected delays on public transport can leave a sour taste, while a well-timed commute can, conversely, offer a sweet opportunity to preview what awaits in the office or indulge in a few more minutes of leisure activities, like listening to music.

Sweet or sour, the aftertaste lingers for a while, silently influencing employee mindsets and their performance at work. Over time, this may reflect in organisational performance—a concern that prompted Professor Vivien Lim from NUS Business School to explore how different aspects of the commute come together to create a good or bad experience for employees.

“Our results suggest that one’s commute experience can set the tone for the day. This highlights the need for organisations to recognise employees’ commuting experience as a factor impacting their work, and consequently, organisational productivity,” commented Lim.

Prof Vivien Lim and her team surveyed employees from the finance and service industry to examine how in-commute activities and direction of travel affect commute experience // Credit: NUS Business School

Lim’s study team, which included her colleague, Professor Thompson Teo, and Egan Lua, a PhD student at the Scheller School of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology, surveyed a total of 106 employees from the finance and service industry, to specifically examine the influence of two factors—in-commute activities and direction of travel—on commute experience.

“Our results suggest that one’s commute experience can set the tone for the day. This highlights the need for organisations to recognise employees’ commuting experience as a factor impacting their work, and consequently, organisational productivity.”
Prof Vivien Lim

The survey participants used public transport to regularly commute to a fixed work location in Singapore, reaching their workplace before 9 am and leaving after 6 pm.

Using survey data collected over seven working days, Lim and her team looked for correlations between the kind of activities participants chose to do during commute, how much they enjoyed doing these activities, and how they felt and performed at work later.

Publishing their findings in the Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, the study team drew some interesting insights: regardless of the direction of travel, engaging in leisure activities like listening to music or napping left the participants feeling more relaxed and settled.

question-mark

Have a question? Send it in and it may be answered in the next issue of MEDICUS!

ASK MEDICUS

On the other hand, engaging in work-related activities had varied effects, depending on other compounding factors and the direction of commute.

Catching up on work during relatively hassle-free morning rides helped participants transition better into work-mode, but during stressful rides hampered by crowding and unexpected delays, such intensive activities added yet another layer of stress. On the return trip, continuing with work-related activities prolonged working hours and left the participants more drained.

Lim and her team feel such insights could encourage commuters to choose in-commute activities that will elevate their mood and energy levels and ease their transition into or out of work.

“Building on the notion that the daily commute has restorative capabilities, this study represents an important step forward in our understanding of positive commute experiences in contributing to employees’ recovery,” the team wrote in their 2023 publication.

However, they point out the need to expand the research by including more participants from diverse backgrounds, those using other transportation modes, and the impact of hybrid work arrangements, as this will offer a more comprehensive analysis of underlying patterns.

“Future research should move away from viewing the commute as a ‘daily grind’,” wrote the team, “but as a purposeful activity that offers much potential for recovery, work and wellbeing.”

Adapted by Sruthi Jagannathan from How we can reclaim our commutes