The recent snow and ice covered roads have been taking their toll on Irish workers, according to a new survey by IrishJobs.ie Eighty five per cent of workers told IrishJobs.ie that their journey to and from work had lengthened because of the bad weather experienced last week.
A third of people (30 per cent ) took between one and two hours to get to work while a quarter (25 per cent ) took between two and four hours. Some had truly horrific journeys, with three per cent of workers taking between four and six hours and four per cent taking over six hours to get home. Ninety per cent of respondents say their usual commute time is less than an hour.
According to the survey, in normal weather 60 per cent of people drive to work, 24 per cent use public transport, 13 per cent walk, and three per cent cycle. However, the cold snap forced one in four (25 per cent ) to use a different mode of transport to get to work. Nearly half (48 per cent ) opted for public transport, just over a third (33 per cent ) walked, and 19 per cent drove.
Of the 15 per cent of workers who said their journey was unaffected by the bad weather, 43 per cent said it was because they decided to work from home, 36 per cent said they were snowed in and did not even attempt to travel, and 14 per cent were still on leave. However a very candid seven per cent confessed that they could have made it in to work but used the weather as an excuse to stay home.
Just over one in 10 (11.6 per cent ) workers got a company day off because of the bad weather, however the majority of them (80 per cent ) will not be paid for their snow enforced leave of absence.
“The bad weather has been hard going for workers who obviously struggled to get to work last week,” said Valerie Sorohan of IrishJobs.ie “However, it is heartening to see that so many employees did make the effort to get in which reflects well on the work ethos, dedication, and loyalty of the Irish workforce.”
