Today Andrew Millard stops by from across the pond to help launch a new whitepaper concerning smarter commuting as part of the UK's third annual National Commute Smart week.  Andrew is the eCommerce Director of EMEA at Citrix Online.

The daily commute.  It's a thought that can send a chill down the spine of even the cheeriest soul.  Battling congested roads in rush hour, waiting on station platforms for delayed trains and squeezing onto packed buses.

If that's not bad enough, the evenings are starting to get colder and certainly darker, with the clocks going back recently, making the daily commute that bit harder.  

This week the UK's third annual National Commute Smart Week is taking place, with the aim of encouraging workers to reduce or even eliminate their daily commute to improve health, wellbeing and productivity.  

It's an initiative that peaked my interest and I was keen to find out more about the feasibility of introducing smarter, and more flexible, working approaches. So to coincide with Commute Smart Week, we commissioned some consumer research to uncover the real picture of commuting in the UK and pose the question: is there a 'smarter' way to commute?

How do UK workers commute?

The survey found that collectively, British workers spend around 26 million hours every single day commuting. While that works out to be an average of 49 minutes per person, there are one in ten of us who are travelling for a minimum of two hours every day.  

It can be a painful experience and when asked about the biggest frustrations with commuting, being stuck in traffic topped the list, with travelling in the darker winter months and the expense of commuting close behind. One in five Brits were annoyed about wasting time which could be spent more productively.

Given those results, it was no surprise to find that around two-thirds of us Brits want to reduce the time we spend commuting.

So what's the alternative?

It was clear from the research that British workers are frustrated by many aspects of their commute and that there is a real desire to improve or reduce their journeys. The people we surveyed were clear about the benefits of smarter commuting, particularly in achieving a greater work-life balance by reducing the amount of time wasted 'in limbo', neither at work or at home.

Many respondents identified ways smarter commuting could work in practice, such as working flexible hours so they could travel outside of peak hours, and working from home to avoid the commute altogether. Technology was seen as the great enabler, providing the tools to allow workers to connect with their workplace, colleagues and clients and carry out their job from any location.

Is it feasible?

Now I'm not suggesting that every business should rush to adopt smarter working practices just because workers are a bit frustrated with their commute. It's highly likely that businesses are placing even more value on a visible, highly productive and engaged workforce in our competitive and challenging economy.

But taking a more flexible approach, and utilising the widely available and low-cost internet tools that can enable this, could provide the key to businesses acquiring and retaining the best talent, improving staff morale and loyalty, and as a result, maximise productivity of their workforce.

By working together, employers and employees can gain a better understanding of each others' needs, assess the right approaches and test a range of options, which will help to transform the British workplace into a highly productive environment, while serving the work-life balance needs of employees.

You can download a whitepaper, revealing the full results of the Commute Smart research.

Photo by: raindog

It's great to stop working for a few minutes and get into the mind of an author that can really change the perception of your day and give you that kick in the butt you were looking for. I know sometimes working from home you need a little spark to turn off Hulu, the Wii or the kids. You need that light to go off. For me, I like looking into the strengths of others and seeing how they transcended their life, overcoming adversity or just said I am going for it.

This list is a god start and what I turn to when I am looking for some daily motivation.

4 Free eBooks That Rock My Day

The Zero Hour Workweek by Johnathon Mead

This is Jonathon's personal story of going from 9-5 to day job killer and breaking free from the constraints that were holding him back. This is a really meaty 60 pages that looks into how to get paid to be yourself with tips and insights into how grabbed over 10,000 subscribers to Illuminated Mind, writes for a top 50 blog, and created a full time income online.

279 Days to Overnight Success by Chris Guillebeau

Writer of the blog, the Art of Noncomformity, Chris has a nack for connecting with others by sharing his insights and instilling wisdom that really lights up the page. In this free resource Chris shares how he created his own brand, the motivation for his website and how he set himself free. This is really motivational and something that a lot of people can learn from, get excited about and do themselves!

How I Got 100,000 Subscribers in 2 Years by LeoBabauta

Most people in the blogging space know of Leo's story from humble beginnings to a book deal and total domination online with his suite of websites and products. Learning what Leo did right and wrong is motivation for anyone to become a rock star. His story is very possible for anyone and applying some of his knowledge in your business, whether it's big or small, can give you a jump start on the competition.

Spiritually Rich by Brooke Ferguson

Brooke, author of the Business Backpacker blog, wants us to think about our core, what makes us special and how we can use that to serve a greater purpose. The read is quick and exciting and offers those questions you need to ask yourself to get going for the day. To grab the eBook, you will need to opt-into her list, where she sends out very infrequent updates on working from abroad and lifestyle design.

So, that is my list. I am really interested to learn from you all as well. What gives you a quick jolt of energy when you hit that mid-day lull? Please share in the comments so we can make a great resource for people.

As part of a larger report on workplace trends developed by Citrix Online titled "Worldwide Workplace: The Web Commuting Imperative", today we're launching a whitepaper on simple steps that businesses can take to get started in workshifting some or all of their employees.

To get up and running with workshifting, here are five simple steps that businesses can take:

1. Determine the specific needs of your organization
2. Go online to identify best practices for managing a virtual workplace.
3. Evaluate core technologies best suited to enabling employees to remain productive.
4. Set policies and guidelines for managing your virtual workplace.
5. Set benchmarks and measure effectiveness.

For suggestions and details on how to execute each of these steps, download the whitepaper now: Five Steps to a Virtual Workplace Program

After reading through the whitepaper, are there other steps that you would take to convince your business to start a workshifting program?

Photo by: e.t

Usually when we read about the concepts of workshifting, being a digital nomad, a web-worker or any other term related to working from outside of an office building, we usually view it through the lens of the employee.  Articles tend to focus on how the employee benefits from the ability to work from outside of the cubicle.  But, one area that's not always covered are the hurdles that managers of remote workers face as well as strategies to help them adapt to have a mobile workforce.  As the number of employees workshifting continues to grow, it is important that we consider ways in which we can better help managers.