is 10.5 hours out of the house every day normal for a basic admin role?

[Candlebay]

I was at my previous job for 14 years and the hours were 8am to 4pm, with a 20 minute drive each way. I've just started a new job after redundancy and the hours are 8:30am to 5pm but I now hit rush hour traffic so the drive each way is taking 50 mins. To make sure that I'm not late, I leave at 7:30am and I'm getting home just before 6pm - it feels like a very long day! By the time I've had a shower, cooked and cleared away it's almost 8pm. l guess I'm curious if this is a standard day for those in similar roles? Should I stop whinging?!

Wow 2 hours downtime in an evening - that's loads!

I think you were spoiled at previous role!

Your hours are standard.

That's two hours plus early bedtime of 10pm! I'm super envious !

If it’s city centre (which an hour to cover 7 miles suggests), you’re likely going to be faster on public transport.
otherwise - quite standard and you need to start considering the commute as wind down - read (again - public transport!) or listen to a podcast, I used to call my mum from the car on the way in each day etc. use the commute time.

Your employer doesn't have to consider your commute. That's for you to decide when you take the job. If it doesn't work for you then you should probably find a job that is closer/ has a shorter commute.

It all sounds pretty depressing to me! Little work life balance. Can you wfh at all?

Any alternatives like a train? Probably not much use suggesting the bus unless they cruise on by in a bus lane?

Public transport quicker than driving for my commute.

It all sounds pretty depressing to me! Little work life balance. Can you wfh at all?

• agreed I would hate this set up

Sounds similar to what mine was. My work hours were 8am-5pm but had to leave house at 730am to get there on time due to traffic. Coming home could take 15mins or up to an hour depending on the traffic.

Was going to suggest cycling too. If safe.

Not really! I work in a home based admin role. My commute is 1 minute on a bad day. I can start at 7am if I desire and be finished by 3pm, or like today just signed off as had a lie in until 9. Lots of downtime. Good pay. No commute. Meet up with friends, go to the gym, walk the dogs everyday. Get feck loads of work done as no people disturbing me.
I meet up with my team quarterly with social elements as well as a couple of friendly conferences and at least 10 site visits a year. So lots of social bits and stuff to break it up.

Sounds normal to me.

Personally I wouldn't want to live like that. When are you exercising and getting fresh air in the week?

Sounds normal to me.

I had that. Hours were 8.30 - 4.30 but with the commute I was out of the house 7.00 -6.00. Lasted 2 months before realising I couldn't live like that and how unfair on the kids it was and have ended up at a company that is 8 - 4 and literally 5 minutes from the kids school. It's been life changing already having our evenings back.

Average UK commute is 30 mins each way so yes yours is a long one.
For 7 miles I'd cycle if I could so I could tick the exercise box for the day.

So many companies offer wfh and flexible working now. I go in once a week, can start and finish whenever I want as long as it’s between 7am and 7pm. If it’s an admin job, and not a specific industry, I’d be looking elsewhere if I were you. Work life balance is so important, and it’s much easier to work for a company that offers it these days! I would not want to do what you are doing personally.

@smilesup your life sounds like a dream.

Sadly different for me as single parent working full time in senior demanding corporate role, two ND kids and ND myself.

I barely get a minute most days.

So yes, if I got to wind down at 8pm AND get to bed for 10 I'd be living a fucking dream ! 😊

Yep, pretty normal for full time work.

My son's working hours are 9-5. Although his flat is only 2 or 3 miles away, he has to leave home at 7.45 to catch the bus (every 30 minutes and takes 30 minutes due to routing through housing estates and traffic congestion). The bus back is either 4:55 or 5:25 and he can't leave early enough to catch the earlier one, so he doesn't get home until just after 6. So that's over 10 hours away from home for a 7 hour working day.

At least he's used to it. He used to have to leave home at 7:30 to catch a bus to get him to school just 5 miles away in our nearby town to get there before 9, again due to a half hourly service, the bus going miles through estates and traffic congestion. If he'd have caught the 8am bus, he'd never have got there for 9 - only 5 miles away! It was bad enough the times when the 7:30 never turned up which was far too often!

Outside the big cities, public transport is often pretty inconvenient.

Not everyone can live close to where the work is.

My son has had to move to a different city to get a job in his chosen profession. There aren't any employers closer to home, none at all!

Even in his new city, he couldn't find a flat to rent any closer - the one he's managed to get is right on the outskirts. Luckily it's a small city! There's literally no flats to rent - even viewings get booked up within an hour of the listing going live and then you are allocated a viewing slot - if it's inconvenient, tough, there's no negotiating different times - you either turn up or you don't!

Things aren't easy out there in lots of places. Glibly saying find a job that's closer with a shorter commute is spectacularly misunderstanding the realities of job hunting/house hunting in many places at the moment.

But the OP is working in a basic admin role. There are thousands of these jobs out there, and many companies offer much better flexible working than she currently has. For a basic admin role (which is essentially what I do) I wouldn’t want to do that commute. I’d be looking for something that is either fully wfh or at least has some flexibility!

is there an option for a train, or cycle? That's only about 30 mins cycle, and you'd be exercising at same time. E-bike might be good option.

Sounds horrific to me. There are lots more options now since Covid. I'd start looking for another role unless you are very niche. I wfh in a specialist role 5 days a week, hours are 9-4.30. I would not go back to commuting five days a week now but I appreciate that I am lucky in that there are options for me in terms of employment.

It's still not the individual employer's responsibility to give you a nice commute. They will hire whoever is the best candidate for the job.

Basic admin roles are not hard to come by either. If you have a decent CV and experience and can't get one (even a WFH role) then sorry but you're doing something wrong.