The most ‘on the nose’ one would definitely be time-management. According to this article on the Indeed website, a commute is considered long if it takes more than 50 minutes to get to work in the morning. That might be overseeable when living alone or with just your partner, but it certainly poses some challenges for couples with children, for example. This journey would mean not only a shift in your behaviour, but also your partner’s because it results in two hours or more on crucial moments of the day in which your partner can’t rely on you to bring the kids to daycare, for example. Or for people who don’t have kids: if you have less time to, let’s say, spend on your hobbies, it does take a toll on your mental health. The BREVER law suggests that people on average spend between 70 and 90 minutes a day commuting in total, regardless of how they travel. This daily “movement budget” can affect the way we structure our time, and the impact of a long commute goes beyond just feeling time-strained. If your commute is longer, it means less time for personal activities, hobbies, or social life. Someone cycling just 10 minutes to work has more free time left in the day compared to someone spending over an hour on the road, making it easier to balance personal and professional commitments. For employers it’s also crucial to realize that a long work commute might mean more sick days or home-office days for your employees, as they’re often more sleep-deprived and by extension less willing to make the long travel. “The devil is in the detail.”, say Gavin Burnell and Rachel Muers. “There is a big difference, psychologically, between three nights away and four nights away, between missing more than half your children’s bedtimes and being there for more than half. […] It is much easier if one of you is working from home, or not going out to work, for at least one weekday, so that the weekends don’t fill up with chores.”

Another important challenge is managing finances. For the employer it might be more expensive to have to pay for train fares or gas money and it might be good to ask if the investment you’re making – hiring an employee from far away instead of one that lives closer– is being earned back in terms of productivity and net worth. For the employee it’s the other side of that coin. How much will you give up in order to sustain a certain lifestyle? Whilst living in the big cities can be more expensive in terms of housing or cost of living, it might also be good to evaluate whether that is compensated by the potential for career growth, social connections, or other lifestyle benefits, and if those outweigh the financial strain of commuting or living farther from work. With that balancing of commitments another important factor emerges: what is your priority in life? Building a family or excelling at your career? As Kathleen Dixon Donnelly tells the Guardian: “The best advice I [can] give is: “Never do anything just because of the money. Money is important; consider the money. But if it comes down to the money, don’t do it”. I have heard from students years later who tell me they ignored my advice, took a job they didn’t want because it paid more than the one they did, and had to quit because they couldn’t stand it.”

The last – and maybe even the most important – challenge, following on from the previous ones, is managing emotional and physical well-being. Traveling can be more than just time-consuming; it can drain energy and patience that you might otherwise use for problem-solving or other tasks. During rush hour, you might find yourself stuck in traffic or standing in a packed train, unable to make good use of the “extra” time commuting takes. This daily journey can also replace some of the movement you’d typically get during the day. Walking or cycling to work can actually do wonders for both productivity and physical health. Moving as part of your commute helps keep fitness levels up, reduces stress, and gives you an overall boost for the day. Even adding some walking or cycling into your route can break up sitting time and give you a natural way to unwind and reset. As Jana Witteman writes for ‘Manners’: “Research shows that people in this group experience sleep deficits more frequently and often struggle with lack of exercise. […] A simple solution that’s especially convenient in the Netherlands? Ride your bike to work more often. Less risk of missing out on physical activity, and a great way to de-stress.” Ways employers could deal with this issues would be to include a workgym, offer on site workout classes, or a gym or classpass membership, for example.