Car finance and loan company Moneybarn has calculated how far commuters are likely to travel in an hour (below) with London topping lowest miles per hour and the East of England recording the highest miles per hour.

Opening the question up to the recruitment sector, it seems most recruiters have a commute time of around half an hour wherever they are in the country.

Sophie Milliken, managing director at Newcastle-based Smart Resourcing Solutions, told Recruiter: “I’m surprised the North East has been ranked as one of the longest commutes, as most people I know in the region have fairly short commutes. My own commute is around 30 minutes, but we do have one team member (Helen) who commutes in from York. 

“Luckily, we are situated close to the station which helps her but even so, her commute is a good hour and a half. To support Helen, I am flexible about her leaving earlier in the afternoon, which helps her get back in time to see her daughter before bed and can reduce the travelling costs. I also encourage Helen to have at least one home working day per week.”

Olivia Spruce, CEO at City of London-based Positive Healthcare, told Recruiter: “I have the longest commute in our office. I commute from Northamptonshire to the City every day. This is a four-hour commute daily. Personally, I am happy to do this. I love working in London but don’t care to live here, not to mention the price of properties! I also enjoy the downtime before and after work, which gives me the opportunity to de-compress a little. It also has another advantage, in that if I can get here on time (although I’m always early), my staff have no excuses!”

Mary Cox, MD at Hertfordshire-based Got People, told Recruiter: “One of our consultants lives approximately 30-minute drive from the office. All others are local, though one or two use the bus service.

“We have complete flexibility in the office, the most important understanding between the team is that we work together for results; minor issues such as travel complications or late bus etc are irrelevant. That flexibility allows us to drive the results forward.”

Trisha Brookes, people & culture director at nationwide recruiter Hays UK & Ireland, told Recruiter: “We are lucky that we’ve got a large network of 96 offices, which means this is less of an issue for us because people will usually select the offices that are closest to where they live. 

“However, some of our employees still have long commutes and the Moneybarn calculations generally stack up for us – the commuting time for people working in our London offices is often longer because the cost of living in the Capital is so high. 

“Our technology means that some roles can work remotely or flexibly in other offices and this is an area we will continue to focus on. We wouldn’t want to miss out on talent because people are put off by a commute and are taking this into account with some of our new initiatives and our technology investment.”

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