Working out of town is tough. Colleagues are always able to regale that 1 month project in Hong Kong working closely with the client C-suite or 4 month project in Zurich hitting the ski slopes on the weekend, however rarely do they mention the year-long slogs in various industrial estates and retail parks up and down the country.
Most of us accept the difficulties of life on the road with a shrug and something about it coming with the territory. However, we at Out of Town are questioning how much extra effort really goes into working and living out of town and by analysing over a hundred responses to our recent survey think we've got a pretty good idea of the biggest issues. Some results were pretty surprising, while others made a lot of sense.
1. There's an almost even split in those of you who like working in their home city and those who prefer out of town working
We were surprised how that only 55% of respondents preferred to work in their home city. This may be attributable to shorter daily 'door-to-desk' commutes and fully expensed living costs is certainly confirmed with those preferring working away from home, doing so for a much greater portion of the year.
2. One third of respondents work away from their home location more than 75% of the time
This means the average consultant spends just 50% of the year out of town. Results suggest also corroborate the growing trend of 'hyper commuting'
3. Those of you already working out of town are evenly split in your preference to continue working out of town
On the other hand, only 1 in 5 of those who are currently working in your home city want to experience life on the other side.
4. Nearly 70% of you travel to your work location by plane
This is heavily skewed by those of you in US, with this figure increasing to 90% easily explained by the geographical differences. While in the UK, 55% travel by train - compared to only 9% in the USA. This is most likely explained by greater distances and or differences in transport infrastructure.
5. Around a quarter of us always or often fly business/first class
Not much of a surprise here - weekly commuting distances rarely merit upper class ticket prices, however an interesting snapshot illustrating those companies willing to treat employees.
6. Missing out on hobbies is by far the biggest hassle of out of town working (30%)
Trying to eat healthily (17%) came in a distant second with managing life admin (11%), doing laundry on the weekend (11%) and keeping track of expenses (10%) all tied closely in third place. Another close contender was being away from family, friends and partners in the week - the relatively low position of this may be indicative of the respondent demographic.
7. The Average Distance travelled is just under 1,500 miles a week
In the US this increases to 1,700 a week, while in Europe it is less than 250 a week again understandable from the inherent geographies but still a surprising number of miles racked up.
8. No European consultants surveyed travel business class regularly
This could be due company policies permitting the use of business class services over a given threshold meaning that those shorter European journeys just don't warrant the extra leg room.
9. Despite two thirds of companies providing assistance with travel, it bore no correlation to a preference for working out of town
However, those that are provided with assistance, are more likely to travel business or first class - this may reflect a difference in the quality of out of town support different firms provide.
10. 50% of those who responded had some kind of agency or booking assistant for travel
Despite the abundance of support from your companies, comments on the effectiveness were overwhelmingly negative. In addition, 10% of you receive financial compensation for working out of town.
For some, these findings will come as no surprise and those hardened to the industry have integrated the relevant workarounds into your daily life. However, for others some figures may come as eye openers into the widely accepted gripes of the consulting lifestyle. We hope that this provides some insight, whether confirming your existing beliefs on those out of town projects or providing a new perspective on your work life balance.
Think we've missed something? Want to see the raw data? Have any comments?
Drop us a line: [email protected]