The war for talent has a new front line in 2025 and it is not office perks or hybrid policy. Competing with ‘work from home’, it is the simple question of how long employees spend getting to work.
Commute times are now directly shaping job choices, housing decisions, and staff retention rates. For employers, office location is no longer an afterthought but a driver of ROI.
Why is commute time now the biggest factor in talent choices?
After years of flexibility debates, the return to the office is no longer hypothetical. According to Zoopla (via Property Soup, 2025), nearly 40% of UK employees are back in the office full-time while 76% now commute at least three days a week. With daily travel becoming routine again, the commute is a deal breaker in how workers now view their roles.
The housing market shows how far this shift runs. Employees are moving to commuter towns within an hour of work hubs to offset high living costs. Zoopla found savings of 30% to 61% on home prices compared with central London, with hotspots such as Peterborough, Luton, and Chatham offering both affordability and manageable travel times. The office space market is catching up.
On location, the trade-off is clear: more space and savings are acceptable if the journey holds steady under an hour.
Costs add another layer. Data from the Workers Union (2025) highlights the rising burden of travel, with employees shouldering expenses for fuel, fares, and congestion. This has pushed some candidates to reject roles simply because commuting makes them unaffordable. Employers ignoring this factor risk shrinking their accessible talent pool.
The new commute equation looks like this:
- Distance and affordability now weigh more than prestige office addresses
- Three to four days commuting is the new baseline for many roles
- Housing affordability drives workers to relocate but commutes must stay under 60 minutes
- Rising travel costs increase pressure on retention as workers look for alternatives closer to home
- Candidates actively factor journey time into job acceptance decisions
ONS data (2025, via Forbes Advisor) shows that higher earners are more likely to negotiate hybrid working deals that work for them, yet lower earners carry the heaviest commuting load. This creates a talent imbalance where office location strategy can either widen or narrow access to skilled workers.
This widening gap in who can realistically afford the commute leads directly to the hidden barriers shaping talent acquisition.
How do commute costs and time shape hidden barriers to talent?
Commute time is more than just lost hours on trains. It is an invisible filter on who can realistically take a role. Rising travel costs have become one of the biggest hidden barriers for employees, with fuel, fares and congestion charges eroding take-home pay.
For many, this turns distant jobs from an opportunity into an impossibility.
The impact is uneven. ONS data highlights that around 45% of UK employees earning above £50,000 now enjoy hybrid office working, while only 8% of those earning under £20,000 have that option. Lower earners face the full financial weight of fixed commutes while higher-paid counterparts negotiate flexibility.
This structural divide limits access to roles across the city.
Geography reinforces the divide. Workers in rural or outer commuter zones may find cheaper housing – towns like Luton or Chatham offer up to 50% savings compared with central London – but the benefit can erode quickly once transport costs consume a large share of monthly income.
Employers who ignore this equation risk pricing out strong candidates.
For businesses, the answer is not simply subsidies or perks in and around the office. It is a smarter location strategy. Offices near transport hubs or within reach of multiple commuter lines widen access for diverse talent groups.
Accessibility has become as central to ROI as rent levels or amenities. Recognising this shift positions leaders to turn what looks like an unavoidable cost into a competitive edge.
How are companies embedding commute analysis into office space strategy?
The commute is no longer viewed as a personal problem for staff. In 2025, leading employers fold travel analysis into workplace design and location planning. Businesses map employee postcodes against train lines and bus routes before committing to leases.
This early data check helps prevent costly mistakes and improves access for wider talent groups.
Flexibility is also part of the calculation. Staggered start times help employees avoid peak fares while hybrid schedules cut the financial weight of daily travel. At the same time, office design remains crucial.
Workers will still make the journey if offices deliver value. A 2025 survey found 71% would commute more often for better designed spaces.
That means businesses need meeting rooms that work, collaborative areas that spark creativity, and quiet spaces that allow focus.
Practical ways firms are reshaping strategy include:
- Using postcode mapping tools to understand staff travel patterns
- Locating offices near multi-line transport hubs
- Structuring flexible start and end times around fare peaks
- Designing spaces that justify the journey with real utility
The companies that succeed are those who treat commute analysis as a strategic input rather than an afterthought, which then raises the bigger question of how location choices today shape long term office returns.
Turning commute costs into workspace strategy with ADAPT
Commute time into the company office and cost are no longer just employee concerns, they are decisive business factors that shape ROI, recruitment, and retention. For leaders, that means location strategy must evolve from prestige-driven choices to people-first planning.
This is where ADAPT steps in. By combining office and rental market intelligence with 20+ years of workspace expertise, ADAPT helps businesses map where their teams live, how they commute, and what kind of spaces will actually attract them back. This often leads to looking at incredible flexible and managed office space options many companies had not considered before.
Rather than leaving companies to choose between affordability and accessibility, ADAPT sources tailored office workspace solutions – offices close to London hubs, transport links, aligned with culture, and flexible enough to grow with the business.
The result is not just shorter journeys but stronger outcomes: higher attendance, improved retention, and spaces employees actively want to use. ADAPT’s credibility comes from doing this repeatedly for fast-growing, scaling teams, turning what many see as a constraint into a competitive advantage.
The commute has become the hidden filter on talent, especially in London. Get it wrong, and you shrink your hiring pool. Get it right, and the office becomes a magnet for people who want to stay and grow with you from all over your local area or even from hundreds of miles away.
Chris Meredith, ADAPT CEO & Founder
What can you do to get ahead of the commute equation?
If your team is hesitating to return to the office after getting stuck in a rut post-COVID, if hiring is slowed by geography, or if your lease no longer aligns with where your people actually now live – you cannot afford to ignore the commute factor. Location and office design and the perks within are no longer background details, they are frontline talent strategy.
With ADAPT, we’ll help you find an office where accessibility meets culture and cost and value makes sense. A space that cuts down commute times, supports how your team actually works, and fuels your future growth. We are a scale-up’s dream! That’s what sets ADAPT apart. Begin your search here.
