With commuting on hold and everybody Zooming all the time, podcast consumption has taken a bit of a hit as listeners look for new ways to fit shows into their daily routines.

Last month, the analytics firm Chartable released research suggesting that podcast downloads were 10% lower on March 25 than they were on February 26.

Those numbers deserve to be taken with a grain of salt. Chartable, like Podtrac and other podcasting analytics services, is an opt-in analytics service, and many different podcast networks, ranging from Entercom to Vox Media, showed increased listening last month.

Aim/Purpose: Currently, the world faces unprecedented challenges due to COVID-19, particularly concerning individuals’ health and livelihood and organizations and industrial performance. Indeed, the pandemic has caused rapid intensifying socio-economic effects. For instance, organizations are shifting from traditional working patterns toward telecommuting. By adopting remote working, organizations might mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on their workforce, explicitly concerning their safety, wellbeing, mobility, work-life balance, and self-efficiency. From this perceptive, this study examines the factors that influence employees’ behavioral intention to adopt telecommuting in the banking industry. Background: The study’s relevance stems from the fact that telecommuting and its benefits have been assumed rather than demonstrated in the banking sector. However, the pandemic has driven the implementation of remote working, thereby revealing possible advantages of working from home in the banking industry. The study investigated the effect of COVID-19 in driving organizations to shift from traditional working patterns toward telecommuting. Thereby, the study investigates the banking sector employees’ behavioral intention to adopt telecommuting. Methodology: The study employed a survey-based questionnaire, which entails gathering data from employees of twelve banks in Jordan, as the banking sector in Jordan was the first to transform from traditional working to telecommuting. The sample for this research was 675 respondents; convenience sampling was employed as a sampling technique. Subsequently, the data were analyzed with the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to statistically test the research model. Contribution: Firstly, this study provides a deep examination and understanding of facilitators of telecommuting in a single comprehensive model. Secondly, the study pro-vides a deeper insight into the factors affecting behavioral intention towards telecommuting from the employees’ perspective in the banking sector. Finally, this study is the first to examine telecommuting in the emerging market of Jordan. Thereby, this study provides critical recommendations for managers to facilitate the implementation of telecommuting. Findings: Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study highlights significant relationships between telecommuting systems, quality, organizational support, and the perceived usefulness and ease of use in telecommuting. Employees who perceive telecommuting systems to be easy and receive supervision and training for using these systems are likely to adopt this work scheme. The results present critical theoretical and managerial implications regarding employees’ behavioral intentions toward telecommuting. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study suggests the importance of work-life balance for employees when telecommuting. Working from home while managing household duties can create complications for employees, particularly parents. Therefore, flexibility in terms of working hours is needed to increase employees’ acceptance of telecommuting as they will have more control over their life. These increase employees’ perceived self-efficacy with telecommuting, which smooths the transition toward remote working in the future. In addition, training will allow employees to solve technical issues that can arise from using online systems. Recommendation for Researchers: This study focused on the context of the banking sector. The sensitivity of data and transactions in this sector may influence employers’ and employees’ willingness to work remotely. In addition, the job descriptions of employees in banks moderate specific factors outlined in this model, including work-life balance. For instance, executive managers may have a higher overload in banks in contrast to front-line employees. Thus, future studies should explore different contexts, including manufacturing and consultation, to understand the industry’s effect on remote working. Similarly, future research should concentrate on the influence of job descriptions on employees’ intentions toward telecommuting. Impact on Society: The COVID-19 pandemic created a sudden shift towards telecommuting, which made employees struggle to adopt new work schemes. Therefore, managers had to provide training for their employees to be well prepared and increase their acceptance of telecommuting. Furthermore, telecommuting has a positive effect on work-life balance, it provides employees with the flexibility to organize their daily schedule into more activities. Along the same line, the study highlighted the correlation between work-life balance and telecommuting. Such a relationship provides further evidence for the need to understand employees’ lifestyles in facilitating the adoption of telecommuting. Moreover, the study extends the stream of literature by outlining critical factors affecting employees’ acceptance of telecommuting. Future Research: Future studies should explore different contexts, including manufacturing and consultation, to understand the industry’s effect on remote working. Similarly, future research should concentrate on the influence of job descriptions on employees’ intentions toward telecommuting. Furthermore, the research team conducted the study by surveying 12 banks. Future research recommends surveying the whole banking industry to add more validation to the model.

Whether you work in a factory or an office building, many workers have one thing in common: Getting to and from work involves driving a vehicle. Following these basic safe driving tips from OSHA can help protect workers during what is often the most dangerous part of their workday – the commute.

Guildford, England — Commuters are more likely to bike to work when the average speed of vehicle traffic along their route is below 20 mph, results of a recent study out of England suggest.

On-Demand Webinar > >> Watch Now! SPONSORED BY: HP Imaging and Printing GroupBy 2013, there will be 10 million telecommuters in the U.S., according to research firm IDC¹. Watch this FREE...

Launched on the global crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.

The reviews are in and the GOTRAX CTI eBikes are the best value under $1000.

Can a brief history of the modern office help us understand changes happening today?

Is there any way of using public transit for commuting to Los Gatos from San Francisco? I'd love to use Caltrain and some sort of shuttlebus combo, but have had a lot of trouble finding the correct combination of services. I've tried mapping the trip using transit.511.org but it doesn't seem to include Los Gatos in it's coverage area. I'll be working down there beginning next week, and would love to avoid driving as much as possible.

National Bureau of Economic Research

The Volvo S90 is a relaxed luxury cruiser that pampers its occupants with opulence and top-end technology

Factors influencing people’s decisions about how they travel to work are highlighted in a new study on commuting in Europe. Key findings include: cycling rates increase with the length of a city’s bicycle network and public transport use rises with a city’s population and GDP per capita. Based on the findings, the researchers propose policy measures for reducing the number of car journeys.

Investment in cycling initiatives, such as creating new cycle lanes or providing training, can increase the number of people who routinely cycle to work, a new large-scale study in the UK suggests. Town-wide cycling initiatives seemed to be particularly successful when they included workplace measures such as bike lockers, showers and cycle parking.

Roughly 20 million Americans work from home on at least a semi-regular basis. Here's how telecommuting is impressive dent in carbon emissions — and what you

Learn how telecommuting can work for you with some advice from people who do it.

A lunchbox and a thermos may be the best tools for saving money during the work week.

It's important to go into telework knowing what to expect, and that includes these common pitfalls that can derail your success.

Want a cool way to combat expensive gas? Take your bicycle at least part of the way. (We can't all live in Portland, where bicycle commuting has become a religi

A trio works from anywhere in the world, teleworking during the Olympics and a mandatory work from home day. If you’re preparing for the Friday night commute

Students in Finland are much more likely to bike or walk to school than to travel by car, says Pekka Tahkola, who took this photo.

Among adolescents, weight status has been inversely associated with sports participation but not active commuting or physical education. Studies of each form of physical activity have not included adequate adjustments for other physical activities, previous body weight, or diet quality.

Estimates indicate overweight/obesity and obesity prevalence would decrease by 11% and 26%, respectively, if adolescents played on at least 2 sports teams per year; obesity prevalence would decrease by 22% if adolescents walked/biked to school 4–5 days per week. (Read the full article)

The fate of some 27,000 Hong Kong cross-border pupils living in mainland China was in limbo, as the education minister said on Friday that it could not be guaranteed whether they would be exempted from quarantine rules amid the coronavirus pandemic when classes resumed in late May.Although Hong Kong’s government last week decided to exempt these cross-border students from a 14-day mandatory quarantine period when entering the city, a similar rule had so far not been lifted by the Shenzhen…

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Title: For Obese People, Commuting by Car Can Be a Killer: Study
Category: Health News
Created: 4/28/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2019 12:00:00 AM

Dean Kamen is the kind of inventor we don't imagine exists anymore—a fervent polymath like Thomas Edison. Best known as the creator of the Segway, Kamen is also responsible for major breakthroughs in clean energy, water purification, prosthetics,

With his planes, helicopters, and other fuel-hungry pets, Dean Kamen admits that he takes a lot out of the world. This just means that, in keeping with his immigrant grandfather's advice, he has to put more back in. In the second part of our

It could be a lot more than you think, especially if you take the long view...

Company cars form a large proportion of the car fleet in many OECD countries and are also influential in determining the composition of the wider vehicle fleet. When employees provided with a company car use that car for personal purposes, personal income tax rules value the benefit in a number of different ways.

Rotch Library - HE305.H8 2019