The introduction of digital devices into the workplace was supposed to liberate us from the time and place aspects of work, but instead it has tethered us to work more and more, resulting in longer working hours and greater stress.  It’s got to the point where a recent study by the University of the West of England argues that our commute should be re-classified as part of our work day, precisely because digital devices allow us to be plugged in as we travel to work.

The study highlighted how common it is for people to use the free wifi installed on many trains to catch up on emails and other work tasks as they travel to and from work.  The findings emerged after the team surveyed 5,000 passengers who travelled to work by trains that had wifi capabilities.

The analysis found that the majority of commuters were using this time to do work, with many revealing that they utilized the time to catch up on things before or after their official work day.  This time was also used to help people transition from work to personal time.  The team believe that Norway provides a good example, as commuters there are able to count travel time as part of the working day.

“If travel time were to count as work time, there would be many social and economic impacts, as well as implications for the rail industry. It may ease commuter pressure on peak hours and allow for more comfort and flexibility around working times. However it may also demand more surveillance and accountability for productivity,” they say.

Is it worth it?

Unfortunately, our attempts to maximize this seemingly dead time are unlikely to make us more efficient.  Studies suggest that by checking our emails out of hours, we actually encourage even more emails to be sent, so rather than stemming the tide, we make it harder than ever to stay on top of things.

So the unpaid work you’re doing on the train will actually make the paid work you do during the day even harder.  Instead, the very notion of working outside of office hours suggests that workers are both overworked and underpaid for the work they’re being asked to do.

While it’s easy to pin all of the blame on technology for this problem, the real source is the culture of our organizations, which place ever growing demands on workers.  In cultures where presenteeism is rife, then encouraging work during our commute is a logical extension.

The extra work doesn’t actually make us any more productive however, and indeed not only does our productivity decline the longer we work, but our health and wellbeing decline too.

So whilst including our commute into our official work day might be a good start, it has to be part of a wider effort to reassess what we really want employees to do, and how they can best deliver high quality work.