PEMCO Insurance: How commute times may cause job burnout

SEATTLE- If it feels as though Friday cannot come soon enough, your job may not be the problem; it could be your commute that is causing job burnout.

Q13 News spoke to the experts at PEMCO Insurance about why this may be the case.

“The daily commute of having to sit in traffic and go to work every day causes a lot of stress for people,” Senior Communications Specialist Siena Prosswimmer said.

“Typically, the average person thinks a commute of about 20 minutes is a pretty easy commute and it is less likely to cause wear and tear on your everyday life. When that commute goes to about 35 minutes or more, that’s when we start to see dissatisfaction in our daily job and we start to see more stress in our everyday lives.”

The experts at PEMCO say that using mass transit and carpooling may help for some, but for others the problem is a bit more complicated.

“At PEMCO, we definitely love the idea of carpooling or taking a van pool to work. When there's less cars on the roads, that means less accidents and of course less cars on the road means less environmental impact, so that's a win-win situation,” Prosswimmer said.

“Surprisingly enough, people that take the bus to work, bike, walk or take carpool also experience stressful commutes.”

 

PEMCO suggests the following to de-stress a long commute:

-Talk to your employer about shifting your travel time to avoid traffic

-Ask your employer if you can work from home a few days a week

-Lay out clothes and pack your lunch the night before so you can leave earlier

-Use the commute for “me time” and download a new podcast or audio book to listen to

 

Something the experts at PEMCO recommend keeping in mind is that driving is a team sport; stress levels decrease when drivers work together on the roadways by increasing following distance, using blinkers, and avoiding the urge to honk at other drivers.