Say goodbye to the daily commute how to avoid long journeys to work by working via the Internet

Throughout my career I have had the personal desire to minimize the journey I must take to and from my job. The degree to which I have succeeded has fluctuated enormously, from particularly long and congested travelling, to the ability to work from home, completely doing away with the need to commute altogether.

I remember my first gainful employment after leaving home. I had a studio flat just round the corner from the office. That would have been perfect, except for a rather unhinged landlord and some distinctly unsavoury residents in the same building! My second job was quite a contrast. I needed to take my car for over an hour down one of the UK’s most congested motorways. I struggled to achieve average speeds of 20 mph, especially in the morning. Even starting out at 6am I could not be sure of an escape from the traffic jams. Bearing in mind, at the time in question, the world of Internet business was still undeveloped, because no more than a handful of non-techies knew about the Internet.

After half a decade of motorway purgatory, I felt that I had suffered enough. And yet, my next commute was not much of an improvement. For eight years I commuted into the capital via train, exchanging one variety of gridlock for something even worse. For all this period I sat or stood in congested carriages, in conditions which would spark an outrage if you transported animals in the same manner. Even so it was not until I was made redundant, that I came to re-evaluate my priorities. After countless unsuccessful months perusing the online jobs boards, I discovered a position allowing me to work from home, decide my own hours and do away with the journey to work completely.

Undoubtedly, the key element has been the development of Internet business. The WWW makes it almost insignificant where you work from; there is no need to be located in an office when it’s possible to contact clients and colleagues by electronic communications. This has greatly expanded the possibilities for employees to work from home. No long delays at the station, no rushing for the train, no more time spent in traffic congestion. And maybe more than all this, no timekeeping. I can determine my own hours, get started at 8am if I want to, or decide to work less conventional hours. The only crucial factor is that I can do satisfactory work.

As people become more and more concerned about the wider consequences of climate change, not least the ‘carbon footprint’ of driving and flying, Internet business can also offer the ability to decrease the carbon dioxide created by massive volumes of commuting in the morning and evening.

Yet also worth considering, as an upshot of switching to online jobs, is the financial saving. We are all aware of how the cost of petrol has sharply increased in the past year or so. The imminent hike in VAT to its highest ever level will make things worse. And if you have to travel by bus or train, the prices are perhaps even more onerous. Each year I took the train into London, I paid well over three grand on rail tickets.

Any salary you earn is subject to deductions. Tax is something all who earn money have to pay. But the enormous amounts workers spend on commuting to the office, are in effect an extra stealth tax, that you are not obliged to pay any more. online jobs allow workers to hang on to a much bigger proportion of their salary. That three thousand I shelled out on rail fares, will come in quite handy for a relaxing luxury cruise – a much more enticing form of transport, I suspect you’ll agree!