I used to have a 10 minute walk to work, and it was great. I'd take 1-2 days WFH a month still because there was some work that simply needed no interruptions/distractions.

Now I have a 60-75 minute commute over underground, and I'm not looking forward to the return to the office. There's definitely aspects of working where I long for the office, but others where I'm glad for the solitude.

If we have to return 5 days a week I'll probably have to move and pay much more or have a tiny living space.

I value my time more than my comfort so am accepting of this, but it still frustrates me after living the afore mentioned dream.

I'd also note that I regularly start work an hour or two early since working from home - with >2hrs of commuting slashed from my day, if I get a good thought at breakfast why not bash it out?

When you're facing 12hrs as a baseline for your working day it's much less appealing to contribute outside that time.

Commutes are responsible for a 9.91% drop in hourly wages[1].

Also, the less time you spend commuting by automobile, the less likely you are to be involved in an expensive, injurious or deadly accident, especially if you're commuting while while you or others are tired in the morning, or are tired after working all day.

[1] https://go.frontier.com/business/commute-calculator

I’d like to know the impact of people not getting sick as much. I haven’t been sick in a bee a year and it’s great. Almost all of my illnesses came from the workplace.

Just having to put on work clothes, do basic grooming, prepare food to take, etc., already adds more than 10 minutes, on top of whatever the commute is. Driving to work probably means 8-10 less hours of free time a week, all to go to an office and do the same exact thing I could do at home.

You dont do basic groomung and food preparation unless you go to the office?

Not necessarily before work anymore. If I need an extra hour of sleep, I can just set my alarm for 15 minutes before 9.

I can also now take a quick shower in the middle of the day when I need to get away from the screen to think.

Or I can make a granola bowl while I'm in a meeting. Or walk the dog, or do any number of low cognitive load things (especially for meetings that I'm expected to attend even when they are only tangential to my work).

Of course I do, but not at stable scheduled hours -- and it feels much more therapeutic this way.

Sometimes not?

For me it was less the commute time and more planning around traffic.

Even if the commute was 30 minutes (a good day), I'd usually need to buffer time to plan for being late due to traffic accidents and construction (frequent).

Switching to remote work gave me back at least an hour every morning, and at least 1.5 hours in the evening. Anecdotally this has led to massive performance and quality of life increases.

Exactly. It may take only 25 minutes.

But how many of the people making up this average leave home an hour earlier than most of us just to beat traffic?

How much buffer time is then also factored in, and wasted?

No even taking into account the cognitive and emotional cost of the commute.

i.e. the subway in Paris is full of stressed out people, stinks, is more or less reliable and makes an awful lot of stressful loud noises.

I’ve switched to cycling 2 years ago, and even when I get home drenched by the rain and frozen by the wind do I still not miss the "métro". At all.

And I’d bet driving can be quite stressful too.

Pretty sure you're the one generalizing here by specifically selecting the US. A fair number of countries[1] have a far longer commute.

Also consider overuse of cars is a big issue environmentally, while use of public transport tends to increase one's commute (bad schedules, detours).

[1]: https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter8/urban-trans...

I was acutely aware of how my commute was affecting my lifestyle before WFH became widespread, if you think the only difference is waking up 10 minutes earlier you've lost your mind. You are the one generalizing here.

Not all commutes are created equal.

10 minutes in a car is far less pleasant (to me) than a 25 minute walk.

Also 25 minute commute means 50 minutes out of the day, every workday. That adds up.

Not to mention getting ready for the commute/getting settled back home which is easily at least half an hour every workday.

> Also 25 minute commute means 50 minutes out of the day, every workday.

Yes, that sums up to over 4 hours per week, i.e. half a working day.