When looking at productivity tips, it’s important to define what needs to happen before, during and after your trip so that you can be sure to stay busy while commuting. Commuting doesn’t have to be wasted time, instead it can be the perfect time to relax, regroup, strategize, and ensure you ace your business meetings.
Whether you’re driving, flying or traveling by rail, commute time is one of the most underrated ways of expanding your business potential and making space and time to analyze results and ensure you don’t fall behind. Let’s start by looking at some definitions.
What is super-commuting or a long commute?
Super-commuting or a long commute is when someone has to travel 75 miles (120 km) or more between their home and workplace. A super commuter generally lives outside the metropolitan area and must commute to the central or metropolitan area to work due to cost-restrictive prices in the downtown area.
The commute can be on a daily, bi-weekly or monthly basis. Travel can take place by air, rail, bus or car, or even a combination (i.e., someone drives a car to the train station to take the train). With the rise of hybrid work and digital nomads on the move, super commuting is becoming more common because it’s no longer necessary for young professionals to have to live in the city center. Post-Covid also inspired many people to want more space outside of the city.
Generally super-commuting is seen as long commutes, maybe even exceeding three hours, which can negatively impact work-life balance because people are spending more time traveling and working than they are at their homes. Super-commuting is generally due to the high cost of living in the city center, more job opportunities, conscious lifestyle decisions to live outside of the city, or even more common now, hybrid work arrangements, as going to the office daily is no longer strictly necessary.
Productivity tips mid-journey
Depending on the mode of transportation, productivity tips may change slightly as it’s not the same if you’re behind the wheel than if you’re on the train with access to internet or on a plane with no access to internet.
Before the commute: Download and prep
Make sure you have everything that might serve you downloaded and prepped as Wi-Fi isn’t always the best on the road. Maybe you have a training you’ve been putting off, or longer emails you need to read or respond to, your commute is the perfect time to do this. Make a plan about how you’re going to use your time, and get things checked off that eternal list.
If you have a 3 hour commute for example, maybe you can set aside 30 minutes to organize, 30 minutes to tackle your to-do list of the shorter tasks, and then the rest of the time for strategizing, responding to emails and reading.
During the commute
While you’re on the road, there’s no better time for clearing your inbox. A clear inbox will lead to mental clarity, flag messages that need tending to, respond to emails that require more thought and if you’re driving, you can dictate responses with your hands-free technology.
Voice technology can also help you review your calendar and see what upcoming meetings you have, and you can dictate to-do lists, or if you have your hands available, write down to-dos with a handy project management task. If you don’t have internet access while commuting, why not use this time for content generation, creating a post schedule for your LinkedIn profile, writing and drafting reports, or creating a PowerPoint.
Take care of your mental health
Stimulate your brain by listening or watching a training or course. Use the time to practice mindfulness or meditation to be sure you can rest and reset before meetings. A calm mind will lead to making better decisions.
Self-care is important
Self-care during the commute is just as important as your work-related tasks. Be sure to stay hydrated, bring healthy snacks and stretch and get up and get around. The more you can take care of yourself during the commute, the more you will also feel energized to take on the work day or business meetings.
Policy adaptations for companies supporting this lifestyle
If your company supports hybrid models or in the case of traveling employees, be sure to adapt your travel and expense policy to support these long commutes. When it’s a hybrid employee, depending on the arrangements, your company may choose to give them a per-diem rate or not. Find ways to optimize travel costs without impacting productivity.
Implement flexible travel booking policies
Flexible travel booking policies will allow your employees commuting by flight to better choose their seats so that they can be more productive. Being able to choose a seat assignment in advance or paying for the preferred seat can enhance productivity on a flight by having less distractions. For those traveling by train, you may decide to make first-class coach allowable in the policy so that there are better conditions for working.
Adjust per diem
Be sure to adjust per diem for high cost cities, ensuring that daily meal and lodging expenses are accurate and sufficient depending on the location. If an employee has to make frequent or extended trips, consider adding in extra allowances into your policy to support them.
Transportation
Work rideshares, taxis and train station transfers into the travel and expense policy. For employees that travel weekly, consider making them eligible for a company vehicle or a long-term rental or leasing with more fuel-efficient cars, which may make long-term travel costs less.
Don’t have a travel and expense policy yet? Get our helpful guide.
Work wellness into your T&E policy
Why not provide a rest day or flex time into your policy after travel? Or if there is a longer trip, give more personal time on either end of the trip. Allow travelers to invest in noise-canceling headphones to promote relaxation on crowded transportation.
Use a travel and expense management platform
Work with a travel and expense management platform like GetGoing to be sure expense submission is quick and easily manageable and accessible from the road. The easier expense reconciliation process, the more time your employees will save, and the less of a hassle in the long-term.
Don’t have a T&E management platform, schedule a demo to find out how GetGoing can help you.