Commuters are stuck in traffic on southbound Interstate 5 during the afternoon commute to downtown San Diego on March 12, 2024 in San Diego, California.
Kevin Carter | Getty Images
young professionals Might fall back in love with the 9-to-5 aesthetic—known as “Enterprise core“—but few people record office working hours to support this.
Despite the renewed interest in work-appropriate clothing (think corporate views on clothing) Quiet luxury: a tailored suit or blazer and pencil skirt), new research suggests that the standard 40-hour work week is gone — at least when it comes to commuting.
According to the company, the traditional American 9-to-5 workplace has shifted to a 10-to-4 schedule as more commuters adapt to flexible work arrangements. Global Transport Scorecard 2023 Traffic data analytics company INRIX Inc. released it in June. Its analysis shows that compared with pre-pandemic traffic patterns, there are fewer trips in the early morning and more midday travel.
Working days are getting shorter
The INRIX report found that we are now in the “midday peak”, with almost as many people traveling to and from the office at noon as between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
“The morning commute is less, the evening commute is less, and there’s more activity in the afternoon,” said Bob Pishue, a transportation analyst and author of the report. “It’s more like The new normal.”
Commuters have all but given up public transportation. Passenger volume sink St. Louis Fed data shows the bank never fully recovered during the pandemic.
The result, Picho said, is a surge in traffic congestion throughout the midday and evening rush hours.
“Before COVID-19, the morning peak would be the peak, and then the evening peak would be bigger,” he said, describing two peaks with a valley in between. “Now, there’s no valley anymore.”
“Coffee badges” are the worst in the world
David Satterwhite, CEO of Chronus, a software company focused on improving employee engagement, said: “Employees have become accustomed to the flexibility of working from home and only go to the office when absolutely necessary.”
Satterwhite added: “That means they might wake up early to catch a train home, or come in late, or attend a meeting and then leave.”
Also known as “coffee badge,” this habit only Go to Work Other recent reports suggest that spending a few hours a day is widely accepted, or at least tolerated.
According to another 2023 survey, more than half (58%) of hybrid workers admitted to checking in at the office and then checking out immediately. owl laba company that produces video conferencing equipment.
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“We used to call it chair-jacket syndrome,” says Lynda Gratton, professor of management practice at London Business School.
Does a company have Strict return to office mandate or some variant hybrid schedule“Organizations need to be clear about what the deal is, and individual employees can decide whether they want the deal or not,” she said.
However, Gratton added that since most people say they don’t want to go to the office because of their commute, coffee badges are the least successful type of compromise. “It’s the worst situation in the world, they’re still commuting but not spending time in the office.”
Productivity is suffering
To some extent, workers are grappling with employee burnout Their level of commitment took a hit.
After years of upward trends, workplace engagement has leveled off. Today, only one-third of full- and part-time employees say they are engaged in their work and workplace, while about 50% are not, which can also be seen in the rise of “.”Quietly quit smoking” The remainder (another 16%) actively disengaged, according to a 2023 report Gallup poll Released earlier this year.
Gallup found that nationwide, disengaged or disengaged employees cost approximately $1.9 trillion in lost productivity.
Other reports say employees are now more likely to consider work/life balance, flexible hours and mental health support than career advancement also show. Fewer and fewer people are willing to spend more time in the office.
Owl Labs found that if the ability to work from home was removed, 66% of employees would immediately start looking for a job that offered more flexibility, and a majority of those workers (about 39%) would immediately quit their jobs.
“We need a clearer picture of how you can be most productive, and that requires a senior team to see this as an opportunity to redesign work, not just a reaction to what’s happening during the pandemic,” Gratton said.
