Should We Be Paying Employees for Their Commute Time? Absolutely Not! Wait… Maybe?

The average city dweller knows one universal truth: the world is built to break them. It’s as if modern urban planning was designed as a social experiment to see just how much a human being can endure before they snap. And the ultimate test? The daily commute. Every day, millions of workers embark on their very own endurance marathon—an event that requires equal parts patience, caffeine, and the ability to not throw your hands up and scream into the abyss.

So, here’s a radical thought: Should we pay employees for the “pleasure” of spending hours stuck between a concrete wall and a public bus with questionable brakes? No one’s cruising through the countryside with the wind in their hair here. We’re talking Jakarta traffic, where a 5-kilometer trip feels like an odyssey, and each minute you spend in gridlock ticks away at your sanity and possibly, your life expectancy.

Yes, I know this suggestion sounds like it comes from the deranged mind of someone who's finally cracked from too many hours spent in an airless car. But think about it—would you ask someone to run a marathon every morning before starting their workday and then decline to pay them for the effort? Of course not. So why should millions endure a daily, unpaid purgatory on wheels?

Rush Hour: The Most Efficiently Designed Human Torture Device

Let’s cut the niceties and talk about the daily horror show that we’ve all come to know as rush hour. Rush hour is that cherished twice-daily moment when humanity collectively questions every life decision: Why did I choose to live so far from work? Why am I still stuck in this soul-sucking routine? Why do I cling to the na?ve hope that the social contract wasn’t written by a sadist? If you’ve ever found yourself wedged between a delivery truck and a motorbike, inhaling the perfume of diesel and frustration, you know exactly what I mean.

And nowhere is this more vividly displayed than in Jakarta, a city whose infrastructure is “formidable” in the way that quicksand is "formidable." It's not so much designed for moving people efficiently as it is designed to keep you trapped in your vehicle, contemplating life’s big questions. Every morning starts with a burst of misplaced optimism; you tell yourself today will be different. And every evening, as the clock ticks toward 5 PM, that optimism shatters as you descend into the brutal choreography of rush hour.

When you finally make it to your car, it hits you: this isn't a commute; it's a siege. Bumper-to-bumper traffic crawls forward like a reluctant caterpillar, each inch gained celebrated like a minor victory, only to be met with the deafening sound of car horns and, if you’re lucky, a serenade of street vendors peddling snacks you didn't ask for but will absolutely buy because you need a distraction.

That 30-minute drive Google Maps projected? Get ready for two hours if you're lucky. Three if the universe has it out for you. And just when you think it can't get worse, surprise! It's raining. Or there's construction. Or some rogue cow has decided to take a leisurely stroll down the main road (yes, this happens).

And what do you get for all this? Absolutely nothing. Zero rupiah, not a dime. Your employer generously considers these extra hours of suffering as simply part of the "privilege" of having a job. A solid deal, right?

The Art of Pretending Commute Time Isn't Real Time

Employers have somehow convinced the world that the time you spend commuting isn’t real. It’s like a parallel universe, where hours don’t count, and sanity isn’t a commodity. You know the drill: your workday is billed as 9 to 5, but the little fine print they never quite spell out is that you need to be out the door by 6:30 AM to get there by 9. No, no, that time doesn’t count—it’s just the "commute."

The logic is seamless, really—if you’re willing to ignore how absurdly flawed it is. The average commute in cities like Jakarta, S?o Paulo, or Manila? It’s practically a part-time job. Except this part-time job doesn’t come with perks like health benefits or the satisfaction of completing any actual tasks. Instead, it comes with radio signal cutouts, an aching neck, and the thrill of dodging motorbikes, buses, and that one guy who thought cutting across six lanes was a totally reasonable maneuver.

Yet, once you arrive at work, it’s like the clock resets. Those two hours of dodging death and inhaling exhaust? They don’t exist. They were simply the warm-up lap, a casual jog before the real “work” begins. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll even get a gold star for showing up on time, as if you didn’t just spend your morning reliving a scene from Mad Max.

So, we carry on with this social fiction, pretending it’s normal to spend more time getting to your job than eating all your daily meals combined. Because why wouldn’t we? Who doesn’t want to start their day with a "leisurely" 90-minute journey through gridlocked chaos, with nothing but the sweet sounds of brake squeals and street vendors to remind them they’re alive? Clearly, it's all in a day's work—or rather, not quite, because commute time isn’t work time, remember? Keep that little delusion going, and you just might make it through another week.

When a Job Comes with a Free Relationship (with Your Car Seat)

Imagine a world where companies paid you for every soul-sucking hour spent in traffic. Wouldn’t that just change your whole outlook on life? You might even start to see your employer in a different light—no longer just a faceless corporation but a benevolent force that recognizes your true struggle. Of course, we’re not talking about a warm, fuzzy love for your job. It’s more like, “Oh, they get it. They understand that I’m not just a cog in the corporate wheel."

But let's zoom out. It’s not just a Jakarta problem. From New York to London, Mumbai to Manila, this paradox of "unpaid transport labor" runs deep. You get compensated for your 9-to-5, but the hours you spend in transit? That’s apparently just your personal hobby.

If commuting isn’t considered work, what is it exactly? A form of self-care? “Look, traffic’s terrible, but I do get to reflect on my choices while being boxed in by strangers. It’s like a mobile spa!” Sure, you could use that time productively—if by “productively” you mean scrolling through memes to avoid having a meltdown.

Give me a break. You know what commute time is? It’s work, plain and simple. It’s the unpaid warm-up act to the main show of your actual job. Until the world starts paying us to sit in traffic, that car seat romance remains firmly one-sided, and the only compensation you’ll get is back pain and the occasional fist-shaking argument with a motorbike weaving through your lane. Fun times.

The Economic Benefits of Paying for Commute Time: Let's Spend Money We Don't Have

Let’s take this radical idea and run with it: paying employees for their commute time.. Sure, the CFOs of the world might break into a cold sweat at the very idea. After all, where would all that money come from? It’s not like corporations have been basking in record profits , handing out golden parachutes to CEOs , or stashing cash reserves like squirrels before winter. Oh wait, they have. But putting all that aside, let’s be optimistic and consider the transformative opportunities that paying for commute time could bring.

For starters, we’d witness the birth of “commute inflation,” where employees strategically extend their routes to maximize their new source of income. Why take the fastest route when you can take the scenic three-hour journey through every gridlocked neighborhood, detour-prone construction zone, and toll road known to man? “Oh, you take the 3rd ring road to work? Amateur. Real pros hit the multi-level interchange at 5 PM sharp.”

Public transit enthusiasts would be having their heyday too, figuring out the slowest buses, longest transfers, and most delay-prone rail lines. And why wouldn’t they? It's basically traffic-based stock trading. The goal isn’t to get to work faster—it’s to clock in the most profitable hours while watching reruns of Friends on your phone.

Faced with these skyrocketing costs, employers might finally come to a revelation: “Hey, maybe we should let people work from home more .” But of course, we’re dealing with a corporate world that worships at the altar of “face time.” Remote work is a dirty word to certain executives who still believe that the only way to maintain productivity is to keep an eye on their employees.

In the end, the idea of paying employees for commute time is just wild enough to actually make the system a bit more fair. Which is probably why it’ll never happen. Because fairness has as much place in modern corporate policy as a quiet, traffic-free commute has in Jakarta—just another unattainable dream that makes for a great fantasy, but not much else.

So, should we pay employees for their commute time? Obviously, yes. Will it happen? Of course not. Let’s not pretend we live in some fantasy world where sanity and fairness rule the day. The hours spent marinating in traffic purgatory have become just another line item in the cost of “living the dream,” sandwiched somewhere between overpriced rent and weekend brunch. Corporations love to talk about things like “employee wellness” and “work-life balance”—just don't expect that to extend to your daily commute.

Until the world catches up with reality, your commute will stay what it is: the longest unpaid gig you'll ever sign up for, and the least entertaining version of The Fast and the Furious. Except your vehicle isn't so much fast as it is "stuck," and the only thing furious is you, mentally calculating how much time you've lost this week staring at the bumper in front of you.