Commuting versus e-flexibility: the workforce’s choice

Covid-19 changed people's mobility and lifestyles. An ad hoc Google Forms questionnaire was sent to N=843 Austrian e-commuters across the tertiary sector to capture the impact of the commute on the workforce's e-flexibility inclination. The findings show that, where possible e-flexibility may help to reduce the general reliance on commuting. All hypotheses were supported: the data show that the proportion of satisfied people working remotely increases as commuting time increases; interestingly, the ideal e-working model is a hybrid one of commuting 3-4 times a week (41.4%); the debate on whether or not to return to the office is far from settled, 73% of respondents are reluctant to give up the 9-5 space, the workforce living further from the office prefers to work remotely more often, and, not surprisingly, the workforce living not far from the organisation prefers to keep working in the office; coworking space seems to be on the rise (72%) among employees in shared work environments. Employees who live further from the office do not want the coworking possibility. Overall, spending some of the week working from home is a boon for employees in many circumstances, especially those who live far from the office.