Why Telecommuting Positions are Good for People and Business - LifeGoesStrong

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Ask a telecommuter about their stay-at-home job and they'll tell you why telecommuting positions are good for them and their employer. From better health and a happier home life to higher productivity, there are advantages all around.

It's Telecommuter Appreciation Week, and I'd like to show my appreciation for all of the virtual work-from-your-home people I know.

There are a lot of us out there, and the numbers grow every day as telecommuting positions become more commonplace as more companies see the many benefits to telecommuting work and  jobs that are flexible.

I know people who run companies with dozens of employees, all of whom work from a home office. It is very common for new startups to skip the expensive overhead of office space and go virtual, and for companies who want to attract superstar workers to allow them to work remotely part-time or full-time.

I haven't commuted to an office for twelve years, and the pros far outweight the cons for me. It would take a lot for me to give up the advantages of the telecommuter lifestyle.

Working from home has a lot of benefits to employees:

No commute time. I used to commute 45 minutes each way on the bus or by car into a downtown office. That's 90 minutes a day, which adds up to thirty hours a month in commute time. Working in my home office, my commute is a few minutes at most, if I stop to make a cup of coffee.Less pollution and traffic. One way to reduce air pollution is by less driving, and you can't suffer through a traffic jam if you never drive to work.Less expensive. Bus or train fares, or gas, tolls and parking, can add up to thousands of dollars a year.Less germs. People ask my secret for avoiding all of these colds and flus that spread like wildfire. I tell them it's swimming every day (which is a much better use of time than commuting) and not being exposed to coworkers who insist on coming in sick.More family and personal time. Many people with long commutes miss important evening time with their kids, or being able to participate in outside hobbies. Getting that commuting time back can change the quality of your non-work time, and work-at-home jobs often can be more flexible with scheduling, too.Less stress. I don't know about you, but I hate traffic and my past big-city commutes were a battle every day in each direction. Walking barefoot into my home office beats that hands down.Less spent on work wardrobe. Many telecommuters also travel to meet business contacts in person, too, but when working at home, the quality dry-clean-only clothes are replaced with cotton sweats.Pets don't have to stay at home alone. A few months ago, I wouldn't even have thought of this, but since I adopted my first dog last month, I'm constantly aware of the positive affect of my dog next to me as I work. More about this one at Pets Welcome! When Companies Allow Pets at Work, Everybody Wins.

And on the flip side, there's a lot in it for companies, too.

Global Workplace Analytics and the Telework Research Network reviewed more than 500 studies about telecommuting found that companies get:

Happier employees. Two out of three of people want prefer to work from home, and more than a third would give up a raise – or even take a salary cut – for the chance to telecommute. Eighty percent of workers consider telecommuting a perk.Better attendance. People who work from home call in sick less, because they're 1) less likely to take a whole day when all they really needed was a couple of hours for an appointment and 2) they're more likely to keep working when they are sick since they're not speading their germs.More production. Yes, work-at-home jobs are actually more productive. In fact, American Express workers who telecommute are reported to produce 43% more than their counterparts who worked in the company office.Less money spent on office space and facilities. Companies can have smaller offices with a virtual workforce, which saves in many ways. Sun Microsystems reported their Open Work program saves $68 million a year in real estate costs.Meetings are more efficient online or on the phone than in person. The whole water cooler phenomenon has its place, but it is a time waster. Virtual meetings held online or through conference calls are generally much more punctual and efficient than in-person meetings.

As a recruiter, I'll add one I didn't see in the list: When commute distance isn't an issue, there is a much bigger candidate pool, and companies can look for talent that doesn't need to be in a short driving distance. Virtual workers can be anywhere.

Obviously, not every job makes for telecommuting work, and there are some cons to it as well (such as keeping computers secure and motivating virtual workers) but many adapt quite well to stay-at-home jobs.

If you're interested in being a telecommuter, share this article, and the link to the report, to begin a conversation with your company about how that might work for you.

More about telecommuting and new ways to work:

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