All Signs Point to Telecommuting

Eric Grevstad

I had a voice over IP (VoIP) conference call with HP recently. When the presentation started, an HP rep quoted some statistics. One was that 40 percent of workers’ time is now spent in meetings and on conference calls—with an average 12 minutes at the start of each call spent dialing and debugging to get everybody online.

The end of 2015 brought a fresh crop of workrelated statistics and surveys that, taken together, add up to encouraging news for home office fans. According to FlexJobs, an online service for flexible, telecommuting, and freelance work opportunities, we’re seeing nothing less than a rejection of the traditional office workspace. A full 76 percent of respondents to a recent FlexJobs survey said that, when they need to get important work done, they avoid the office.

Where do they go instead? Bingo (no, wait, I don’t mean they go to play bingo, I mean you guessed it): A home office was a far more popular choice than a coffee shop, library, or conventional office outside of normal work hours. As to why they’re more productive at home, roughly three-quarters cited fewer interruptions from colleagues and fewer distractions, and 71 percent listed freedom from office politics and 68 percent reduced stress from commuting.

With 97 percent of the people surveyed saying a more flexible job would have a positive impact on their quality of life, and four out of five saying they think it would make them healthier, it’s not surprising that 82 percent of the respondents said they’d be more loyal to their employers if they had flexible work options. A full 30 percent said they would take a pay cut of 10 to 20 percent in exchange for such options.

Are companies noticing this sentiment? They can’t afford not to. From 1995 to 2015, according to Gallup’s annual Work and Education poll, the percentage of U.S. workers who say they have telecommuted to their jobs vaulted from 9 to 37 percent.

The overall average is a modest two days per month, increasing to six days among the selfselected group of remote workers. One in four telecommuters (i.e., one in 11 employed Americans) works from home a majority of the time or more than ten days per month.

According to GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com, regular work-at-home (among telecommuters, not self-employed individuals) has grown 103 percent since 2005, and 6.5 percent in 2014. The latter is the largest year-over-year increase since before the recession. This means that 3.7 million employees (2.5 percent of the workforce) now work from home at least half of the time.

Half of U.S. jobs, Global adds, are compatible with at least partial telework, and 20 to 25 percent of the workforce telecommutes at least occasionally. Approximately 80 to 90 percent of U.S. workers say they would like to telework at least part time. Global draws a distinction between concentrative work at home and collaborative work at the office, saying the sweet spot or balance between the two seems to be about half time apiece.

Indeed, Fortune 1000 companies are remodeling their offices and their project management practices around the reality of worker mobility. HP says 62 percent of employees work from more than one location. Global says today’s office slaves are anything but chained to their desks; in fact, they’re away from their desks 50 to 60 percent of the time.

Workers, however, are still leading companies rather than the other way around. Although a study by FlexJobs and WorldatWork found that four-fifths of companies surveyed offer flexible work arrangements, only 37 percent have formal, written policies about them. And only 3 percent quantify return on investment (ROI) by measuring productivity, employee engagement, and performance ratings.

What can you do to get the boss’ blessing for telecommuting? Bring in the studies cited here and urge him or her to get with the program. Point out that this year Millennials surpassed Generation X as the largest chunk of the U.S. labor force—and Millennials overwhelmingly desire more flexible work and better work-life balance than their predecessors did.

Chances are, your IT department has already developed (or is working hard to develop) a “bring your own device” (BYOD) strategy to keep up with workers’ embrace of tablets and smartphones. And BYOD is a revolving door for a telecommuting plan (I like to say the flip side of BYOD is THYW, for “take home your work”).

It’s a mix of managerial structure and quantifiable goals with teleworker flexibility that provides peak happiness for bosses and staffers alike. It’s not rocket science. It isn’t even bingo.