The cost of travelling to work has almost doubled in the past five years, according to new research by Regus. The study surveyed more than 44,000 senior business people across more than 100 countries, including 365 respondents from Hong Kong. The findings revealed that workers worldwide now spend an average of 5% of their net take-home pay on their annual commute to work. In Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, many staff have to suffer moderate or expensive commuting costs compared to Japan, the UK and the US where considerably more employees enjoy a relatively cheaper commute. In Hong Kong, 28% of respondents spend 5% or more of their annual take-home pay on commuting.
Globally, workers spent an average of 3% of their annual take-home pay on their commute to work and back in 2010, but recently the situation has worsened significantly. In the past year in many countries, including South Africa, Brazil, France, India and Mexico, costs have risen even higher than the 5% average.
Michael Ormiston, Country Manager, Regus Hong Kong commented, “With living costs rising, every penny counts for the world’s workers. Yet travel expenses are accounting for a larger and larger slice of their yearly outgoings, in some cases making the commute to work prohibitively expensive and deterring prospective talent.”
Businesses that want to retain and attract top talent need to address the often overlooked issue of costly commutes. Ormiston added, “Flexible working hours can provide a solution for maxed-out employees. Businesses that want to offer workers a real perk and retain valuable staff need to urgently address ways to reduce the cost of commuting by offering them the choice to work closer to home at least some of the time.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
