Any words of wisdom gratefully recieved…

Four months ago i left a very secure job after 11 years because i needed a change. The commute was a pig (30 miles in heavy traffic on the UK’s busiest roads), and my boss was a pain.

So i got a job on about the same cash 9 miles from home. Longer hours but I’m ok with that. Problem is it turns out the job i was sold is very different to the reality and i want out sooner rather than later.

So i started seriously considering going self employed which is very common in my industry. There’s obvious downsides and I’ve got two kids and an extension to pay for!

But I’ve just been offered a job on equivalent money at a firm I’ve wanted to work for for years. Great reputation, great ethics, great work/life balance BUT it’s 55 miles away.

They are happy for me to work from home 2 days a week once I’m established in the job and there are no core hours so i can commute in the less busy times, but I’m worried commuting perhaps 500 miles a week will just be too much.

Thankfully the journey is fairly easy so hopefully only 1hr 5-10mins.

Does anyone do a commute like this? Is it feasible in the long term? My wife won’t move, the kids are in good schools etc. And the job has a fair bit of travelling anyway.

Answers on a postcard of you have ’em thanks!

I did for a long time. Wasn’t that much of a pain, to be honest.

Rachel

I’ve done all sorts, travelling throws a bit of a curve ball in there.

For me it would be on the limit but doing say Mon/Fri from home have some obvious benefits and if you accept that your going to do some longer days/commutes putting another 1hr in for a couple of days isn’t bad.

If I was looking at it then Mon/Fri Home then a long 1 or 2 days Tues/Wed/Thurs to get stuff done and be available in the office.

However if you need to do the office and travel then it would be a pain if you ended up doing 2 days away then 3 in the office your probably back to square 1.

55miles in 1hr10 sounds good though, much better than the 30 in 1hr30-2hrs I was doing before I left the UK 🙂 Also can you factor in a travel lodge type thing once a week/fortnight? Do a mega couple of days in the office to get away early/balance stuff out?

I don’t do a commute like that but plenty of people where I work do, and greater distance than that in some cases. Like you alot have negotiated a couple of days in the office a week. Some drive and some take the train part way and commute some of the distance by bike and one guy who lives a silly distance away rents a small bedsit and stays overnight, and another chap camps in his van during the week, so a huge variety of different ways of managing the commute – but 55 miles is not alot really so long as the roads are half decent. After all, i’m only 10 miles door to door from my workplace and it takes me 30 minutes by bike or car, so if you can do 55 miles in a little over double that time then it’s not so bad.

If your other option is to go self employed then you’ve got nothing to lose from sucking it and seeing.

If your other option is to go self employed then you’ve got nothing to lose from sucking it and seeing.

+1. you want out anyway; what have you got to lose ?

Wow, I could have written the first part of that – except the other job offer. I’m just starting to look as the job I moved to isn’t looking like it was sold at interview also. It’s so nice to have a 10 mile commute on quiet A Roads that I haven’t kicked my backside into doing something yet.

It’s easy to justify 55 miles, but traffic is increasing sadly, my old M1\M62 commute that used to take 30-35 minutes is now closer to 40-45 only 18 months later.

A few years ago I took a short term job covering at a customer site near Keighley and commuted from Tadcaster, that was about an hour and 10 minutes. It was great when I started in summer but as soon as it turned into a dark and rainy winter commute then it was awful.

If you can break the week up and only do a couple of days in the office and can choose your traveling time within reason then it makes a world of difference and I’d go for it. If it’s 5 days a week at the same time as every other idiot is on the road then I’d get fed up pretty quick, I may still go for it if longer term relocation and moving house is realistic.

Take the job

OP I have had a decently long ccommite the majority of my 30 year working life – eg 1.5hrs each way into London. Now driving is more tiring and potentially dangerous but you adapt, try and be calm and if the timing means you can avoid traffic thats great. Its a company you want to work for, they are being flexible – thats great. Make the most of the 2 days from home, get up and start working fhe same time as you would drive – my point is to show you can be as/more productive so your new employer gets the “wow” factor and doesn’t see home working as a soft option. Being able to do that is great. Pick kids up, see more of them etc

Good luck

50 miles a day here, one day working from home. It’s ok. Two kids under three make it harder but I leave early and get back early.

M1 traffic jam most mornings so I’ve soon learned alternative routes, one of which is up over the top of the Peak District. Lovely 🙂

1hr10 on a good day? Or on average. Makes a big difference.

I drive 45-50mins (28miles) each way, but on a bad day it can be 1hr15.

Thankfully the journey is fairly easy so hopefully only 1hr 5-10mins.

It can take my wife that long to do 12 miles into the centre of Derby!

If your other option is to go self employed then you’ve got nothing to lose from sucking it and seeing.

+1 to this. ^

55 miles sounds a lot but 1h10 isn’t that big a deal. I did that about once or twice a week for my last job (public transport, usually cycled which was quicker but not always possible). With 2 days at home you’re laughing.

Thanks everyone. I think the benefits outweigh the potential downsides. This company are established and have great staff retention. The last time someone left was in 2008 so I’m lucky to get an offer!

Fingers crossed the contract arrives as promised!

I suppose I’d better start a new car thread now…. Fast,comfortable, enough room for a bike, must do 100mpg.

I do exactly 55 miles each way at 1hr 5min and have done so for the last two and a half years. This is the average time and has only deviated twice in this time due to holiday traffic going to Pembrokeshire.

It’s OK although I travel quite a lot with work – UK and Europe typically.

I always worked from home on Fridays but at the start of this year, after a little wobble at work, I now work a three day week and one of those days is from home. It’s a bloody brilliant deal although how long they’ll let me continue is a bit of a guess…

Invariably I do some work on Mondays and Fridays, but the crux of it is that I couldn’t do this commute 5 days a week but, speaking from experience, 3 days is doable – especially if you really enjoy your job/work, which I don’t!

38 years old with one 9 month old daughter to add perspective!

on the car front I would never deviate from a bigish, comfy, diesel automatic.

Currently in a Merc C350cdi – 2010 estate. They are relative bargains compared to the equivalent BMW 330d, very comfortable for my arse and back, easy to work on and an oil change takes 10min with an oil vacuum pump.

My commute is 30 miles B roads and 25 mile motorway.

I never had a commute anywhere near that short when I commuted. I didn’t pay for my car or fuel though.

55 miles sounds a lot but 1h10 isn’t that big a deal. I did that about once or twice a week for my last job (public transport, usually cycled which was quicker but not always possible). With 2 days at home you’re laughing.

Agreed. If the worst happens you can always get another job.

I’d have said no way based on the commute, but 2 days at home makes it more plausible.

Commuting is a huge chunk of your life completely wasted.

I just can’t imagine why anyone would want to waste so much of their life sitting in a car, but then it may be that I think quality of life is more important then money.

If you are confident that you can work from home two days a week, then six hours commuting per week seems very reasonable – it’s the equivalent of working five days a week with a 35 minute commute each way, which I’m sure you wouldn’t think twice about.

As above, buy a nice comfortable diesel auto barge with a good stereo.

It’s the time. not the distance IMO, and that time door-to-door is probably pretty common I’d imagine. I was doing basically the same thing around a 35 min train journey.
That said you are spending basically a working day just travelling. I wouldn’t fancy it personally but it’s not crazy in comparison to most folk I’d say.

Loads of folk on the railway do similar if not longer lasting commutes and most are on 12hr shifts. I say go for it!

My commute is an hour each way and I only travel 19 miles.

If your other option is to go self employed then you’ve got nothing to lose from sucking it and seeing.

My thoughts also.

IMHO, a long commute is tolerable in the short term but will grind you down. It’s immeasurably easier if you’ve got some sort of flexitime arrangement rather than having to battle through rush hour to be greeted by a boss who has a monk on because you’re two minutes late.

When I had to do it I didn’t have any of that, so I ended up being out of the house for for upwards of twelve hours a day (for an eight hour wage) and it got to a point where all I was going was working, eating and sleeping. It wound up making me ill. But by the sounds of things your situation is a lot more flexible and you’ve got a contingency plan if things don’t turn out.

So, I’d say go for it, but keep a close eye on how your work / life balance is playing out in practice.

The other thing of course is, is public transport an option? An hour on the train and an hour fighting through city centre traffic are two very different propositions.

I would do it as long as you will actually WFH on the 2 days, with a lot of places it is a good idea but there is always a meeting or reason why you need to be in so you can easily end up doing 5 days.

I did a 100 mile a day, heavy traffic commute for nearly 2 years and after a few months, it really took its toll on me. I was constantly tired, because I was tired I was eating badly to get quick energy and I did almost no exercise because I had no time or energy. It is worse in winter when you see so little daylight too.

Go for it. Think about when to work from home. Some days have less traffic, Friday’s for instance, so it’s easier to commute – I guess more people WFH on a Friday.

15 miles each way and between 45 minutes to 60 minutes+. As others have said, it’s not the distance it’s the time. An hour each way is not unusual nor particularly onerous. You would only be doing it 3 times a week.

I did a 60 mile (each way) commute for a year, it didn’t kill me but I wouldn’t want to do it again. Some days you’re just worn out from work (mentally in my case) and then having to drive for an hour+ isn’t the wisest thing to do. At the time I was living with my parents so didn’t really have any other responsibilities – I think I’d struggle to do it these days and I don’t have kids either.

Also in my situation I had a long commute whilst I was house-hunting (it took a while…) but I always new it wouldn’t be permanent so was easier to deal with, not sure in your case, if you have no plans to relocate if I could put up with indefinitely.

Sounds like a good opportunity, worth a roll of the dice imo – they sound potentially quite flexible/supportive (must be doing something right to retain staff like that!)

I’m spending about 8-10hrs a week in my car at the moment, with no hope of any real flexibility or work from home… not fun, and I’ve got a little one on the way to consider.

PS – I would not recommend a Fiat 500 as good commuting car… 6 speed manual and 875cc engine does not make for a relaxing commute 😀

Once again for all the comments. I’m a consultant in a land based industry so work tends to involve driving to sites and days in the office finalising reports and plans. There’s a fair degree of variety in the job and it can be handy if i have a site near a trail centre!

In fact part of what I love about it is getting to travel. Audio books are brilliant to pass the time in the car.

It sounds like I’ve convinced myself. I’m lucky to have a choice I suppose.

I do 40 miles each way, but it’s a very easy motorway cruise and is reliably about 50 mins door-to-desk. A previous job was 12 miles but always took 30+ mins.

It obviously varies for everyone, but for me an hour is the cutoff.