As a business owner, you’re used to caring about your employees. You’re used to ensuring they have somewhere comfortable to work, that their environment is positive, and that they have all they need to perform their job to the best of their abilities.
The one area you’ve overlooked
However, despite all of the above, it’s unlikely that you have thought much about your employees commutes. There’s good reason for this, too: an employee’s commute is not something that you are party to. It happens outside of work, and thus it seems as if the topic would be completely irrelevant to you. Given that the commute is something that you have no direct involvement in, why is it any of your concern how your employees make their way to work? Well…
Long commutes = tired employees
When it comes to making a success of your company, productivity is a key marker that cannot be overlooked. If you want your business to be productive, then your employees have to be energized and engaged to perform as well as they possibly can… but what if they can’t due to a long commute? If your employees are continually having to get up at 4 or 5am, then this is eventually going to tell on their productivity levels, and your business is going to suffer as a result.
If you find that an employee is having to get up far earlier than would be considered normal just to commute, then consider offering that employee the chance to work remotely. As https://www.entrepreneur.com/ makes clear, there are plenty of benefits to remote working for both you and your staff, so it’s well worth considering!
Tired employees isn’t the only reason you should be concerned with your employees’ commutes, either…
The potential for injury
It’s a sad fact of life that commuting via any form of transport is dangerous, but if your employees are commuting by car, then you have particular reason to be concerned. No employer wants their employees to have to take time off work, but sadly, car accident statistics make for grim reading. If your employees are commuting every day, the chances of them being involved in an accident becomes all the more likely.
A car accident could result in a valued employee taking time off to recover from their injuries and go through their compensation claim with the likes of http://www.aitkenlaw.com/car-accidents/, which means you’re down a worker just because of the commute.
To combat this, you could encourage your employees to take public transport via incentive schemes. Alternatively, as mentioned above, offer opportunities for remote working. Both options will help keep your staff off the road during rush hour, which should, in turn, benefit your company.
To conclude
If you have never asked a member of your staff how they get to work, then now is definitely the time to start. The commute is how your employees start and end their working day; if you try and improve this area, then there’s a good chance you’ll boost both employee productivity and employee loyalty, so it’s well worth giving it a try!