To honor Earth Day 2018, we decided to do some research into the average American's journey to the office and brainstorm ideas that visionary leaders can share to encourage employees to commute to work more sustainably.
Commuting is a central part of modern life. In 2015, nearly 143 million or 44% of Americans aged 16 and up commuted to work each day. Furthermore, the way people commute was found to have a huge impact on the quality of their day-to-day life.
Beyond the environmental impacts, employees who chose to commute more sustainably enjoyed a range of psychological benefits. A McGill University survey of 3,377 commuters in Montreal found that people who walk, bike or take the train are significantly more satisfied with their commute than those who drive.
Surprising and unfortunate then, that a Stanford study from 2015 revealed that 86% of workers commuted by private vehicle. 76.4% drove to and from work alone and 9.4% carpooled, with the rest taking public transport, biking and walking. This finding is no joke, particularly given that the U.S. Census Bureau found that it takes the average worker 26 minutes to travel to work, with ‘mega-commuters‘ referring to the extreme examples of those who travel 50+ miles and spend 90+ minutes getting to and from work.
As a company who aims to put people and planet at the center of everything we do, we decided to share these strategies to help employees commute more sustainably while promoting environmental health and worker wellbeing.
With employee experience, engagement and happiness driving widespread change in the workplace, we now have more opportunity than ever to reevaluate the traditional drive to and from work. The promise of the sustainable commute is threefold, promoting environmental health, cutting costs and promoting employee wellbeing.
Talk to a smart building expert to learn more about how Switch helps portfolio managers reach their sustainability goals.
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