The average daily commute for retail workers takes 36 minutes each way, covering 21 miles - In lost time, this is worth £2,509 a year– or 16.1% of the average annual salary in the retail sector
Retail workers are missing out on £2,509 a year in the unpaid time it takes to get to and from work, according to research from specialist recruiter Randstad Business Support.
Lost value
If retail workers valued the time spent getting to work as highly as they value the time spent at work, then the typical commute for someone who works in sector would be worth £2,509. In lost value, this is equal to 16.1% of the average annual salary.
But this is below the nationwide average, with retail workers spending less time commuting than workers in other job sectors (36 minutes compared to 43 minutes on average across the country).
The value of a typical UK worker’s commute amounts to £5,722 a year, or 19.1% of their annual salary.
UK Industry Average commute time (minutes) Average commute distance (miles) Lost value of commute Commute value as % of annual salary Financial Services 60 29 £23,032 26.5% Accountancy 38 17 £14,653 16.9% IT 42 22 £8,398 18.6% Construction & Property 56 27 £7,228 25.1% Engineering 46 25 £6,868 20.4% Transport 49 35 £6,386 21.9% UK Average 43 22 £5,722 19.1% Social Care 55 36 £5,194 24.5% Manufacturing 38 20 £4,805 17.0% Marketing & PR 48 25 £4,347 21.5% Legal 27 14 £4,308 12.0% Education 37 19 £3,545 16.4% Health 29 15 £2,762 13.0% Secretarial & Admin 30 9 £2,649 13.1% Retail 36 21 £2,509 16.1% Customer Services 25 11 £1,736 11.2%
Financial Services professionals – who travel the furthest distance in their daily commute on average – have the costliest commutes, stacking up to £23,032 a year in lost value. At the opposite end of the scale, Customer Services workers miss out on £1,736 a year, with the typical commute taking only 25 minutes, the shortest length of time for any industry.
The research was carried out as part of a Randstad partnership with Williams Martini Racing team, which compared the speed of travel of F1 drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas to the speed at which UK commuters get to work.
Twenty Grand Prix in locations
In total, F1 drivers travel an average of 3,791 miles for work over a season, over which time they will complete twenty Grand Prix in locations ranging from Australia to Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, the typical retail worker in the UK would commute just 854 miles over an equivalent twenty day period.
And while F1 drivers can reach top speeds of 230 miles per hour on the race track, the average worker in the retail sector travels at just 35 miles per hour on their daily commute.
Ruth Jacobs, Managing Director of Randstad Business Support, comments: “Commuting is an unavoidable side-effect of working life, and as people are increasingly forced to live further away to work, the daily commute is only travelling in one direction – longer. There’s not only a financial cost attached to that, but a big time consideration too.
If the time retail workers spent travelling to work was recognised in the same way as the hours you put in at work, they’d be £2,500 richer at the end of the year.
“The retail sector offers employees greater flexibility than other industries which are focused around a few core hotspots, and workers can choose to look for a job closer to home to cut down on the time spent behind the wheel or packed onto a train. Job-hunters need to weigh up potential salaries with the cost of daily transport, but also the value of the time it will take them to get there each day. At the higher rungs of retail companies especially, employers need to recognise that to attract the best people, they may have to sweeten the lengthy commute.”
Work-life balance one of the keys to staff-retention
The latest Randstad Award research found that poor work-life balance is one of the top five reasons behind workers choosing to change employer – contributing to just under a quarter (22%) of job moves.
Furthermore, when looking for a new employer, a good work-life balance was cited as a top five factor for 45% of workers in 2015 – compared to 39% in 2012.
The Award research also discovered that having a lengthy commuting time is more likely to adversely affect senior, more experienced members of staff. In total, 21% of workers in the 45-65 age group said a too-long commute time was one of the top five factors contributing to their decision to move jobs, compared to just 16% across the UK workforce as a whole.
Ruth Jacobs continues: “Today’s high fliers are those who multi-task and make the most-efficient use of their time – with new technology like tablets helping us maximise working on the go. Flexible working is growing in popularity as our commutes grow in length, helping workers to strike a better work-life balance.
“Some of our most esteemed employers – like John Lewis – are the ones that seized on the growing trend to flexible working. They have built their enviable reputations as great retail employers by helping employees to reclaim some of their lost time and maintain a better work-life balance. In return, this encourages employees to work harder, and stay longer in a role, driving efficiency and productivity.”
Submit CV by May 7th for chance to win trip & race day experience in Monaco! @WilliamsRacing http://t.co/MGLHwhGVSt pic.twitter.com/utQrk2Ppjw
— Randstad UK (@RandstadJobs) April 30, 2015
Retail workers keen to find out how long their commute to work would take if an F1 driver was behind the wheel, should try out Randstad’s F1 competition:
https://www.randstad.co.uk/about-us/our-sponsorships/williams-martini-competition/
And for the chance to win a VIP race day experience with Williams Martini Racing in Monaco, including flights between London Gatwick and Nice and accommodation at the Hotel Suisse Nice for three nights in the Mediterranean sunshine, City professionals can upload their CV to the Randstad site.