Two in five surveyed globally say commuting is the worst part of the day

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IWG's new research of 15,000 professionals across 80 countries (including China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore) has found that 40% find commuting to be the worst part of the day - so much so that more than half believe that it could be obsolete by 2030.

It was also highlighted that one in five (22%) respondents say they are ‘regularly late’ for work due to travel disruptions, increasingly causing them to feel disgruntled by their journey to work, in the report titled The IWG Global Workspace Survey, and managed by MindMetre Research.

Further, almost half (48%) of workers spend their commute working, and as a result, another two in five (42%) think that official working hours should include time spent on their journey, as this does not constitute ‘free time’ in their day.

These concerns lead to a focus on flexible working and workspaces, wherein the report found 83% of people would choose a job which offered flexible working over a job that didn’t. More surprisingly, just over a quarter (28%) value being able to choose their work location over an increase in holiday allowance.

So what's stopping the advancement of flexible working policies? 60% of those surveyed say that changing the organisational culture is the main barrier to implementing a flexible workspace policy, particularly within businesses that have along-standing, non-flexible working approach.

Over a third (41%) say that the fear of how flexible working may impact the overall company culture is the biggest obstacle.

Mark Dixon, CEO and founder of IWG, said: "What we are seeing now is that flexible working is considered by many to be the new norm for any business that is serious about productivity, agility and winning the war for top talent. Indeed, half of all our respondents claim to work outside their main office location for at least half of the week."

On the agenda for 2019, 55% of businesses surveyed said they are looking to be more agile in 2019. Over a third of businesses are looking to expand internationally this year, and the majority of respondents (64%) say that flexible working helps accelerate speed to market in new countries.

All images / IWG