Nearly three-quarters of European employees think their commute has a good ecological footprint
September 10, 2019
London 10th September 2019 — 70% of Europeans think their commute has a good ecological footprint, despite cars being the kings of the commute. This is according to latest findings from SD Worx, the leading provider in Payroll and HR services, which looks into how people choose to commute to work.
Despite increasing concerns around our carbon footprint, 70% of Europeans think their commute has a good ecological footprint. The Netherlands are leading in this opinion, with 79% of commuters feeling positive about the ecological footprint of their commute. This was closely followed by the UK, where 77% of commuters were positive about the ecological footprint, which may be in part due to the fact that more than half of them take public transport, bike or walk to work.
Car is still the king of the commute
In general, this attitude comes as a shock considering more than half of European commuters use a car for their commute. The Netherlands use the car the least (56%), whilst France use the car the most (70%), closely followed by Germany and Belgium at 69%. Other choices for commuting, aside from the car, include public transport (metro, tram, bus and train), bike and on foot. The Netherlands comes out top for using a bike (including e-bike) to get to work, with just under four in ten Dutch commuters (39%) choosing this mode of transport. In comparison, the UK (30%) and Germany (27%) use public transport the most.
Time well spent?
More than four out of ten European commuters spend at least one hour on their round trip commute. A lot of commuters think this time could be better spent. In fact, 27% of European commuters see their commute as a bad use of their time. German commuters feel this the most (34%) followed by Belgium and France (30%). The UK and The Netherlands feel this frustration the least (19%).
Despite lots of European commuters spending a long time commuting, time and distance has little impact on people’s jobs or residence. So much so, that an incredible 80% of European commuters are unlikely to change work location because of their commute. Furthermore, 87% of European commuters are unlikely to consider moving house because of their journey to work.
“Though our research shows that the car is still the main mode of transport for commuting in the UK, it is encouraging to see that many commuters are moving towards public transport, bikes or walking to get to work,” says Brenda Morris, Managing Director SD Worx UK. “Moreover, technology advancements, digital developments and the globalisation of the labour market have made it possible for many companies to offer work from home or remote offices, allowing their employees to choose flexible working options, which will only lead to an even better commuting footprint.”
About the survey
The Europe LTD survey is a questionnaire on one hundred work-related aspects relevant to employee satisfaction, motivation, involvement and engagement. Since 2009, the survey has been carried out annually among 2,500 Belgian employees under the name NV Belgium. Because of its international growth, SD Worx expanded this survey in 2017 to include Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria and the United Kingdom. It concerns 500 employees each time. The sample is representative of the specific local labour markets, with the same composition as to statute (blue-collar) workers, office workers and civil servants), gender, region, work regime, language, educational degree and organisation size as that of the active labour population in the countries concerned.
About SD Worx
As a leading European provider of payroll and HR solutions, SD Worx guides organisations in managing their existing and their new workforce, with a full-service package in the areas of Staffing, Payroll, Time and Talent. SD Worx delivers the best suited approach for every situation, providing insights, expertise, outsourcing services and technology HR- decision makers need for their organisation and their individuals to thrive. Today, more than 68,000 small and large organisations across the globe place their trust in SD Worx and its nearly 75 years' worth of experience. In 2018, SD Worx achieved a consolidated turnover of EUR 594.4 million with its two entities.
SD Worx Group offers its payroll and HR outsourcing services, software and consultancy services in 92 countries, calculates the salaries of approximately 4.6 million employees and ranks among the top five worldwide. The more than 4,150 employees at SD Worx operate in ten countries: Belgium (HQ), Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK. It is the co-founder of the Payroll Services Alliance, a global strategic network of leading payroll companies that together handle 32 million payroll calculations.
Since 2018, SD Worx Staffing Solutions has been offering flexible and temporary employment, secondment, recruitment and selection, outplacement and career guidance services in Belgium and the Netherlands. SD Worx Staffing Solutions has more than 450 employees and employs an average of 5,500 temps on a daily basis through its more than 3,000 customers.
More info on: www.sdworx.com