Egg on my Briefcase

Today's post comes from Lewiston submitted by Jill Thomas-Jorgenson, the Region II director. She recently did some research on telecommuting for an article for the Lewiston Tribune.

Jorgenson writes: "Telecommuting or teleworking is definitely on the rise. This work practice which allows an employee to do part or all of his/her job in a remote location, typically from home, and by using information technology is expected to continue to grow. Some experts have estimated that by 2008 approximately 41 million Amercian people will telework from home at least one day per week (Communicating in the Internet Age: Angelo Kinicki)."

How nice would that be; doing all your work from home. The difference between business casual and business dress becomes whether or not you wear your robe over your pajamas. However, before you get too excited, Jill warns that telecommuning is not for everyone or every employer, but there are some winning combinations. She continues by writing, "Benefits of telecommuting include: reduction of costs - employers report savings by letting employees work from home; increased flexibility and autonomy for workers; increased job satisfaction and lower turnover - employees like working from home because it helps resolve work/family conflicts; competitive edge in recruitment - telecommuting can increase a company's ability to attract and retain quality employees; increased productivity - some employers have reported increases of up to 35%; and the ability to tap into nontraditional labor pools - this includes prison inmates and homebound and disabled people."

Therefore, if you repeatedly find yourself having heart to hearts with the rear view mirror while "driving" on the "expressway," you may want to think about talking to your employer about telecommuting. For the full article click here.