Data reveals the cities where workers are arriving the earliest and latest to work.
See RankingsKisi powers thousands of companies around the world in every industry, therefore we decided to leverage five million data points to release a report revealing the average time that employees arrive at work around the United States and worldwide. These figures are part of a larger study examining the best cities for work-life balance.
With the goal of enhancing an individual's personal and professional existence through technological innovation, the Work-Life Balance Index uses hundreds of touchpoints, including our own data—and that relating to work intensity, social well-being, and livability—to determine which metropolises offer their residents the most holistic lives.
To determine the average arrival time of employees in each city, we utilised over 5,000,000 internal data entries recording the various times that doors were unlocked to enter workplaces serviced by Kisi. The results provide insight into which city’s workers are arriving the earliest, and latest, to work.
As an expanding company born and bred in Brooklyn, N.Y., the working climate was first evaluated across 40 U.S. cities. Then, to understand how the U.S. performs worldwide, an international study was conducted, including 17 notable U.S. cities and 23 international cities known for attracting professionals and families for their work opportunities and diverse lifestyle offerings. As the first installment of a continuous study, a shortlist of in-demand metropolises worldwide with sufficient, reliable, and relevant datasets were selected. In future iterations, this index aims to include a larger selection of cities as data becomes more widely available.
The table below reveals the top 15 U.S. cities with the earliest arrival times, versus the top 15 U.S. cities with the latest arrival times:
The table below reveals the top 15 cities with the earliest arrival times, versus the top 15 cities with the latest arrival times from the global comparison:
The work-life balance index is not designed to be a city livability index, nor is it intended to highlight the best cities to work in. Instead, it aims to be a guideline for cities to benchmark their ability to support the fulfillment of residents’ lives by improving the aspects of life that help relieve work-related stress and intensity. With an ever-increasing burnout rate worldwide, self-care and time management are becoming higher priorities. This study was conducted in the hope that it will bring awareness to the multiple ways in which cities and countries can contribute to the overall happiness and well-being of the workforce.
Each city’s overall work-life score was evaluated based on a series of factors related to the amount of time a person dedicates to their job—such as total working hours, commuting, vacation days taken, and paid maternal leave. Next, Kisi researchers measured the extent to which different types of individuals in a city receive equal treatment. As a result, a person’s level of parity was evaluated by their accessibility to state-funded health and welfare programs, as well as their gender and LGBT+ equality score. Each city’s overall livability score was then determined through a compilation of indicators, as it must facilitate its residents’ lifestyle patterns to be a desirable place to live. Finally, Kisi measured the well-being of each city’s workers through their overall happiness and freedom, allowing researchers to determine whether residents can enjoy their surrounding environment after office hours.
The result is an index encompassing 20 factors determining the top 40 metropolises around the world who recognize the importance of a work-life balance, and encourage it both directly and indirectly through policies and urban infrastructure.