The benefits of telecommuting

Do you really need to work in a cubicle?

Excerpt:

Locally, 4.5 percent of workers in the Twin Cities metro area work at home, according to the Census Bureau, but if you subtract the self-employed, that falls to 2.1 percent of the 1.7 million workers in the area. Those figures are in line with national averages. But when it comes to the paycheck, Minnesotans working from home seem to take a hit relative to their office-bound peers. Minnesota workers in general rank ninth in median earnings relative to workers in other states, but Minnesotans who work at home rank 22nd in median earnings, according to the Census Bureau.

Putting aside the private benefits and drawbacks, telecommuting is a clear winner from a public policy standpoint. Every worker at home is one fewer worker burdening the roads and public transportation systems. Designing public policies and infrastructure to increase the at-home workforce can have both public and private benefits.

Comment: I rarely agree with a Star Tribune editorial, but here's one with which I hearteningly concur! Telecommuting is big in our Phoenix location.

Arizona: Get A Life, Telework!

One way to help you juggle your work/life commitments is to telework, to work from home a day or so each week. When you telework, you not only get a more relaxed working environment; you save an hour of commute time and you can schedule your 8 hour work-day around your life for once. It may surprise you that the average State employee will spend six (40-hour) workweeks in their car this year just commuting to and from work. So the more you telework each week, the more time you redeem for your other priorities.


Since 1993, all Arizona Governors have included telework as an important part of their plan to help put an end to our notorious Brown Cloud. Additionally, telework is a powerful key business strategy to help the State attract and retain quality employees.