While commuting is absolutely normal outside the Czech Republic, employees try to to avoid doing so in our country. However, according to a survey by the ABSL Association a new phenomenon is beginning to spread in the business services segment – commuting across the borders.
According to the most recent survey by ABSL, there is a growing percentage of foreigners working in Czech business services centres. Their number rose year-on-year by 6 per cent and they now total 40 %. But this doesn’t just mean foreigners who have moved to the Czech Republic, but also employees who commute from their country. “It is quite normal for Poles and Slovaks to commute to Czech companies with premises in Ostrava or Brno, but the number of people commuting from Germany, Belgium, Holland and even Great Britain is also rising,“ says John Appleton, Director of the ABSL Association, which associates companies in the business services segment. “Of course, this is mainly possible thanks to the fact that these employees are able to work from home and usually spend just 2 days a week in the office. They then spend much less time travelling, than if they worked in their home country. For example, employees spend on average over 8 hours a week commuting in England, in some regions they even spend 20 hours a week commuting,“ Jonathan Appleton commented.
Czechs and commuting
According to the most recent survey by the Grafton Recruitment Agency, Czechs are much less likely to be willing to commute. A whole 78% of Czechs are willing to commute a maximum of 40 km, and ideally the time spent commuting should range around 30 minutes. Only 14% of Czechs would be willing to spend over 60 minutes commuting and only 12% would be willing to commute farther than 60 km.
5 % of all foreigners working in Czech corporate services centres currently commute and this is a rising trend. This is due to the popularity of the Czech Republic – according to the HSBC Expat Explorer survey the Czech Republic is the fourth most popular destination in the world – and also easy transport access. This concerns employees in executive positions, as well as fresh graduates. “They don’t need to speak Czech, English in combination with other European languages and expert skills is what is important,“ Jonathan Appleton explains, with the understanding that Siemens or ABLnBEV for example have good experience with foreign employees commuting.
Interesting facts from the survey:
- The greatest distance foreign employees commute – 1,903 km
- The smallest distance foreign employees commute – 31 km
- The shortest commute – 30 minutes
- The longest commute – 210 minutes
