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Despite convincing evidence about the general negative consequences of commuting for individuals and societies, our understanding of how aversive commutes are linked to employees’ effectiveness at work is limited. Drawing on theories of self-regulation and by extension a conservation of resources perspective, we develop a framework that explains how an aversive morning commute—a resource-depleting experience characterized by interruptions of automated travel behaviors—impairs employees’ immersion in uninterrupted work (ie, flow), which in turn reduces employee effectiveness (ie, work engagement, subjective performance, and OCB-I). We further delineate theoretical arguments for daily self-control demands as a boundary condition that amplifies this relation and propose the satisfaction of employees’ basic needs as protective factors. Two diary studies across 10 workdays each (Study 1: 53 …