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CNN Saturday Morning News
Commuters are Willing to Take Pay Cuts to Shorten Travel Time
Aired August 11, 2001 - 08:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, commuters. Now, would you take a pay cut to shorten your trip? That's what we want to know.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN ANCHOR: You might be surprised to know how many people said yes in a survey. Our information comes from the founder and CEO of CareerBuilder.com. Robert McGovern joins us from Washington. Good morning, Rob. Thanks for joining us.
ROBERT MCGOVERN, CEO, CAREERBUILDER.COM: Hey, thanks. Good morning.
BUCKLEY: You guys did a survey of this topic. What'd you find out?
MCGOVERN: Well, I think we found two very interesting facts. The first was that 35 percent of our membership told us that they now commute more than one hour each way to work. The second is they told us that 36 percent said that they'd be willing to take a 10 percent pay cut for 50 percent lesser commute. Now, this is fascinating information related to people's commutes.
PHILLIPS: Wow. So do you find that more people are working out of the home now so they don't have to commute, Rob?
MCGOVERN: I think they're trying, but I think we're -- telecommuting still hasn't come, although we are seeing people do different things to try to shift their commuting burden. For example, many companies are now offering programs where you can time shift your hours. This is a hot new trend where you can, say, start at 9:00 A.M. and work till 7:00 as opposed to the typical 8:00 to 5:00.
PHILLIPS: Boy, I'd like to do that.
BUCKLEY: Yes. Oh, man.
PHILLIPS: Can we shift our hours?
BUCKLEY: Let's do that right now. You know, we're looking at a video of New York and Los Angeles before that, and I've been in both of those, just moved from New York to L.A., and I've got to tell you, it really takes a toll, a human toll, on the person. When I was in New York it was, you know, two subways, a train, a car, walking...
PHILLIPS: Taxis. BUCKLEY: You know, you're exhausted by the time you get home.
MCGOVERN: Right. Yes, planes, trains and automobiles is what a lot of people are doing and it's not getting any better. The economic expansion in the U.S. has gone much faster than the traffic infrastructure expansion and many are, the parents of these people that are out driving in the morning what was a 30 minute commute 10 or 20 years ago is now an hour or an hour and a half commute.
PHILLIPS: So, Rob, are companies accommodating their employees at all, for example, maybe moving out in the boonies or having some type of special, I don't know, maybe a Lear jet pick them up and take them to work?
MCGOVERN: Well, we haven't seen the Lear jets, but certainly companies are trying. One of the new trends is companies are setting up satellite work facilities that are, say, on the perimeter of a major metropolitan area so employees can report to work there, access all the company infrastructure, the systems and also be out of the house where they're not distracted but at the same time not make the full commute into the center of town.
BUCKLEY: What's the up side for a company to do something to accommodate the employers and what's the down side? Is there nay down side at all for the company? I mean it seems as though there's still the mentality that well, we've got to kind of keep our eyes on those employers. If they go home, they're going to hang out and watch TV or something. Is there a down side to an employer trying to accommodate?
MCGOVERN: Well, I think that the key focus area is on this Generation X person. They were the people we called slackers when they were teenagers and now they're in the workforce and they're saying they want life-work balance. And it's important for companies to create an environment that will attract these kind of workers. Now, that's not to say put couches in their cubicles. But it's also to say that they're not willing to have a long commute. They want the right amount of balance in their life and so creating programs that give flexibility or extending the company's locations out to where they live is a good idea.
PHILLIPS: So are companies having problems? Are employees late? Are they missing work? Are they, you know, becoming unmotivated because of commutes?
MCGOVERN: Well, over 50 percent of the people in our CareerBuilder survey told us that their commute was stressful or something that they dreaded. Well, I think if every person walks in in the morning after having a stressful one hour commute, they're probably going to be less productive than you would like.
I think it's to the company's advantage, both from a recruiting standpoint, but also from a worker productivity standpoint, to try to work on some of these problems.
BUCKLEY: OK, Robert McGovern from CareerBuilder.com, the CEO, thank you very much for that great info. MCGOVERN: All right, Thanks for having me.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob, and have a nice ride home.
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