Commuting Time and Work–Life Balance among Indian Employees: A Comparative and Contextual Analysis for Human Resource Management

This study examines how commuting time affects work life balance among Indian employees and derives practical implications for human resource management. The analysis uses survey data from 481 respondents and combines descriptive, comparative, and association based statistics. Overall work life balance was moderate, with a Work Life Balance Index mean of 3.57, standard deviation of 0.99, and a 95 percent confidence interval from 3.48 to 3.66. Distributional results showed heterogeneity: 45.5 percent reported positive work life balance, 36.4 percent reported neutral outcomes, and 18.1 percent reported negative outcomes. Longer commuting time was significantly associated with lower work life balance, lower commute satisfaction, lower productivity, and a weaker composite index. Subgroup comparison showed a large practical gap: employees commuting thirty minutes or less had 60.1 percent positive work life balance, versus 14.4 percent among employees commuting more than thirty minutes. Effect sizes were substantial, including an odds ratio of 8.95, relative risk of 4.18, and risk difference of 45.7 percentage points. These findings support hybrid scheduling, transport assistance, and commute sensitive workforce planning to improve wellbeing, performance, and retention. Nearly half of respondents also preferred remote or flexible work arrangements, reinforcing policy demand for equitable, location aware job design across teams.