The East Midlands has emerged as the most favourable region for tradespeople to work in across the UK, according to a nationwide survey conducted by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.
The study highlights that those working in the trades in the East Midlands report significantly lower levels of stress, fewer working hours, and shorter daily commutes compared to their counterparts in other parts of the country.
The findings come at a time when a majority of van drivers across the UK (61%) have experienced an increase in their working hours. However, bucking this national trend, nearly half (49%) of tradespeople based in the East Midlands reported no change in their working hours over the past year.
The survey revealed that tradespeople in the East Midlands work an average of 9.03 hours per day, notably less than the UK average of 9.25 hours.
In contrast, those in the North West (9.49 hours), London (9.54 hours), and the West Midlands (9.81 hours) all reported working longer hours than the national average. The survey polled 1000 van drivers and tradespeople.
One of the most striking findings of the survey was the significantly shorter commutes experienced by tradespeople in the East Midlands. On average, they travel 67.95 miles per day for work-related journeys.
This stands in stark contrast to the considerably longer distances covered by those in London (103.39 miles) and the North West (98.85 miles). With the average daily commute for UK tradespeople sitting at 88.37 miles, those in the East Midlands are driving approximately 20 miles less each day.
This saving in mileage has the potential to translate to an estimated 82 hours of driving time annually.
Unsurprisingly, the reduced workload and travel time appear to have a positive impact on stress levels.
When asked about the frequency of feeling overwhelmed by their work-life balance, tradespeople in the East Midlands, along with those in the North West, most commonly selected ‘monthly’ as their response. This contrasts with the majority of other regions, where ‘weekly’ was the most frequent answer.
This lower stress level is further supported by the fact that tradespeople in the East Midlands reported turning down fewer workdays (an average of 2.84 days) due to mental health issues over the past year, compared to the national average of 3.58 days. London (4.05 days), the West Midlands (4.06 days), and Wales (5.75 days) recorded the highest number of lost workdays for this reason.
