The Climate Crisis is a Workforce Crisis

We usually talk about climate change in terms of big shifts: melting glaciers, rising seas, global negotiations. But for many of us, the impact is far more intimate. It begins every single morning, with the way we travel to work.

When I was in Delhi, my office was only four metro stops away, and my partner’s office was in the next lane. It felt manageable. Later, when we relocated to Mumbai, my partner made the bigger compromise. We decided to live closer to my workplace, just two kilometers away. My commute is short and manageable on my two-wheeler EV. But her reality is different. She spends more than an hour changing multiple modes of transport, walking stretches of the way.

It is not just about time. I live with severe motion sickness. Long car rides often leave me nauseous, so I rely on local trains, often with medication. And whenever I look around in Mumbai’s hot, humid weather, watching people push through packed trains and buses, I cannot help but wonder: when these employees finally reach their offices, how much energy do they truly have left to be productive?

This is not an abstract question. In conversations with friends, many have told me about how they juggle multiple buses, trains, or rickshaws just to make it home. On paper, the workday begins at 9 AM. In reality, it begins two hours earlier, on crowded platforms or in traffic jams.

Now layer climate change onto this already difficult commute.

• Temperatures crossing 45 degrees.

• Heavy rains turning roads into rivers.

• Floods stalling trains and buses, leaving thousands stranded.

These are not inconveniences. They are hazards. They create stress, health risks, and even physical danger. And yet, we still expect people to walk into the office at 9 AM/10 AM and give their “best selves.” The unequal weight of climate stress 

It is also important to name who pays the highest price. Climate change amplifies inequity. Cis-women balancing household duties often cannot simply wait it out when public transport collapses in a flood. They must still reach home, often carrying groceries or children. People with disabilities face infrastructure that is barely accessible in good weather, and becomes completely unusable in heavy rains. Queer employees may not have the financial safety nets to live closer to work or afford safer alternatives.

The commute is not just a logistical challenge. It is a mirror of privilege and disadvantage. And climate change makes those cracks wider. Why leaders cannot look away 

Here is the uncomfortable truth: organisations still treat commutes as outside their responsibility. The assumption is simple, you must arrive, on time, ready to deliver 100 percent.

But this assumption was built in a different world. A world where weather was predictable, infrastructure more stable, and climate stress less intense. That world is gone.

Every time we measure productivity without considering what it takes to simply reach the office, we reinforce inequity. We punish those who live far, who depend on public transport, who cannot buffer themselves against the climate crisis with privilege.

What inclusion must now mean 

If we are serious about inclusion, climate resilience has to be part of workforce strategy. Flexible work policies cannot just be a pandemic memory, they must become a climate adaptation. Commute allowances and safety considerations must include extreme weather as a factor. Disrupted commutes during heatwaves or floods must be recognised as legitimate, not dismissed as excuses.

Climate change is not waiting. It is already altering who shows up to work exhausted, who arrives anxious, and who cannot arrive at all. A provocation for leaders 

Do you know how your employees travel to the office? Have you asked what their commute costs them in health, in safety, in mental energy? And if you know, what are you willing to change?

Because climate change is not only an environmental crisis. It is a workforce crisis. And until leaders start treating it that way, they will keep demanding 100 percent from people who have already spent half their energy just surviving the journey.