Have you calculated the amount of time you spend commuting to and from work? When working in the city, the average time I spent travelling to and from work was just over 2.5 hours per day – 12.5 hour per week. Basically, my commute was adding more than a day’s work to my week.
In a recent Cpl survey, over 70% of Irish workers stated that they spend more than 30 minutes commuting daily. Obviously, we all try to be as productive as possible when travelling, but realistically this is time you spend waiting to start your day’s work or to return home after a long day. For me this wasn’t something I could do for much longer.
The effects of a long commute
No matter how much I enjoyed my job, the commute was draining me. I struggled to get to the gym or make plans after work and when I got home I was exhausted. When I finally decided to make a change, it was winter, and I felt as though I was on a hamster wheel.
I decided to start looking for a new job outside of the city and closer to my home. This was a lot easier than I expected and within a week I was interviewing for new roles in north and west Dublin. I found myself in a position when there was a lot more choice than I expected. Not only that but the salaries weren’t that different to those in the city centre.
How my work life balance has improved
After a few interviews I accepted a job with the Office Support recruitment team at Cpl in their Blanchardstown office. I instantly knew I had made the right decision. I took an hour off my daily journey to work, I had no parking costs and no longer had to pay for bus fare every day. I can now drive to work comfortably in 25 minutes. I not only improved my work life balance and overall health, but I reduced my costs and more than halved the amount of time I spend commuting.
I also found that I had a lot more energy and a lot more time to spend with friends and family, plus I’m more productive in work.
Cpl have a number of satellite offices across Dublin and Ireland – Blanchardstown, Swords and Naas that can offer recruitment support if you want to make the change and look at options of working outside the city.
If you’re interested in spending less time commuting and more time enjoying a proper work life balance, please let me know I would be more than happy to discuss opportunities. We have work with a number of large corporate clients that are located outside the city centre.