Do you count commute time in your "work hours" when thinking about work-life balance? Like my actual work is 9-5 but I'm in the car 7:30-8:45am and 5:15-6:45pm. That's 2+ hours a day just... gone. Anyone else feel like this shouldn't be invisible time?
100% count it. That's 10+ hours a week you're not home. If someone's gonna minimize that they're not living in reality.
Commute guilt is real but also... do something with that time? Audiobooks, podcasts, hands-free calls with friends. Doesn't fix the problem but at least you're not just sitting in traffic rage-scrolling.
lol I feel attacked because I absolutely do NOT count it and then I'm confused why I'm working '9-5' but basically have no evening
Can you negotiate remote work for any of those days? Even one day would cut 4+ hours off your week. My company was hesitant but I had to straight up say 'this commute is killing my family time' and they moved me to hybrid.
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I started tracking this and yeah... it's depressing. My actual job is 8 hours, commute is almost 3. That's basically a full day gone. Tried work from home 2 days a week and the difference in how much time I actually have with my kids is nuts.
The invisible time is the worst part. Everyone talks about '9-5' but nobody mentions you're actually gone 7:30-6:45, which is basically 11 hours of your day before you even get home to your family.