Implications of employees who work while commuting: A moderated mediation analysis

BACKGROUND: The 2020 pandemic yielded significant changes to work - most notable was the shift from centralized to remote work. As employers called for the return to traditional office settings, workers resumed daily commutes to/from the workplace, resurrecting stressors like work overload, time constraints, and commuting strain. OBJECTIVE: We investigate (1) how commute strain affects employees' work frustration, burnout, and satisfaction, and (2) how supportive supervisors and work climates may attenuate its negative implications. METHODS: Using a snowball sample of 403 workplace commuters obtained through various social media, we examined worker perceptions of commute strain, frustration, burnout, and dissatisfaction. We tested mediation and moderation hypotheses using OLS path modeling via the SPSS PROCESS macro. RESULTS: Results indicate that commute strain adversely affects work frustration, burnout, and job satisfaction. The negative frustration/satisfaction and burnout/satisfaction relationships were moderated by supervisor support and work climate, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: As more workers resume the daily commute, employers must be sensitive to the added strain associated with commuting and working while commuting as well as the serious downstream consequences of these strains. Fortunately, employers can moderate the severity of these consequences through supportive supervisors and work climates.