The incredible delays faced by the inhabitants of Bogotá to get to work

A survey conducted by Probogotá, in conjunction with Invamer, revealed that the mobility situation in the country's capital is increasingly complicated because, according to the survey, it takes an average of two hours for capital workers to reach their workplace from their homes.

The investigation, in which more than 650 formal workers and 360 companies were consulted about their business situation in Bogotá and the municipalities of Soacha, Sibaté, Chia, Cajicá, Tocancipá, Zipaquirá and Sopó, revealed that, on average, capital workers work 9 hours a day and, in addition, use two extra hours to mobilize in public transport to their places of work.

Regarding the type of transport they use to move daily to their jobs, the survey revealed that, after the pandemic, 27% of capital employees indicated that they prefer to travel in private vehicles, compared to 34% who prefer to travel by public transport, a figure that decreased by 10%, because, according to the study, before the health crisis, was 44%.

Taking these figures into account, compared to the number of hours employees spend for rest or leisure activities on a daily basis, respondents stated that, on average, they only use four hours.

On the other hand, the survey also inquired about how capital workers fared with teleworking during the pandemic. According to the survey, 51% of employees said they preferred working from home because it helped them improve their labor productivity, while only 39% indicated that they preferred to work in person. In total, according to the research, 69% of employees work in person.

Regarding the mixed modality (combining teleworking with working at home), although 49% of employees expressed feeling comfortable with this form of work, only 19% work under that category.

Likewise, Probogotá and Invamer consulted Bogota employees about the perception of well-being and quality of life that their companies provided them during the pandemic. According to the survey, 24% of respondents said they felt that the company they work for cared about their emotional well-being, while 21% said their organization cared about the quality of life of both themselves and their family members.

However, only 55 per cent of employees working in the financial sector said they were happy and satisfied with the well-being and quality of life that their companies had provided, compared to 38 per cent of manufacturing workers and 33 per cent in the construction sector.

Regarding these results, the president of Bancolombia, Juan Carlos Mora, who was consulted by Probogotá for the study, concluded that, after the pandemic, one of the most important factors that employers will now have to work on will be “how to achieve that harmony between workers' work and personal lives”.

KEEP READING