Where did everybody go? 15% work from home at least once a week

HR Magazine, May, 2004 by Karyn-Siobhan Robinson

Fifteen percent of the workforce teleworks at least one day a week, according to a recent study from the Employment Policy Foundation (EPF), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. While 30 percent of those working from home weekly were self-employed, 17 percent, or 3.4 million, worked at home for an employer.

Even though the employee is often thought to be the prime beneficiary of a telework arrangement, the study, released by EPF's Center for Work and Family Balance, found that employers benefit from some teleworkers' increased productivity. Forty percent of teleworkers reported an increase in productivity over office-based work, and another 30 percent of teleworkers reported equal productivity with the office environment.

EPF noted that telework can reduce absenteeism and turnover, partly because employees with telework arrangements may be more satisfied with their job.

Telework: Part of the Work-Life Balance Equation reported that employer benefits from telework include expanded pools of potential workers, including the disabled and those caring for young or elderly relatives.

Eighty percent of those who work from home use a computer to do so. Four out of five workers who regularly performed telework worked in managerial, professional or sales jobs. Almost 30 percent of managers and professionals said they performed telework. Employees in manufacturing environments were far less likely to report participating in telework--only 2.2 percent of operators, fabricators and laborers reported working from home more than once a week.

Men and women who telework from home at least once a week report doing so in almost equal proportions--14.8 percent of men, compared to 15.2 percent of women. More than 17 percent of men with children reported teleworking at least once a week compared to 13.2 percent of men without children. For women, 16.6 percent with children teleworked at least once a week compared to 14.3 percent of women without children.

Married workers were almost twice as likely to telework compared to their single counterparts.

EPF found that 65 percent of current jobs are amenable to telework. The study concluded that more research is needed about telework to gauge the career paths of those who telework and the effect it has on work/life balance.