WASHINGTON - ON A typical day, Ms Joanne Senn dresses her daughters for school and feeds her cats and fish before buckling down to start her job at 7.15am as an IBM software marketing manager. In her kitchen.
The 46-year-old resident of Austin, Texas, says she spends about 95 per cent of her work time at home, where she can consult e-mail messages, take part in conference calls with colleagues in Europe and the US as well as share ideas via instant messaging software.
'It's remarkably refreshing not to have to deal with commuting,' says Ms Senn, who avoids a daily 25km drive to the office in Austin.
All across the United States, workers and companies are looking at telecommuting as a means to curb transportation costs in the face of record-high petrol prices.
Some 48 per cent of employers offer an option of telework at least one day a week, according to a 2007 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, an association of company managers. Other efforts to help cope with soaring costs include four-day workweeks, help in organising carpools and transportation subsidies, according to the group.
Regular petrol averages US$3.94 a gallon (S$1.42 a litre) in the US, up 33 US cents in the past month and 88 US cents since the beginning of the year, the Energy Information Administration said last week.
The federal government has, for years now, offered four-day workweeks to eligible employees as part of a flexible work programme that includes telecommuting.
IBM has embraced the notion of telework and similar options since 1992, with positive results. The company says some 40 per cent of its global workforce of 386,000 have an option to work from a remote location.
With technology such as virtual private networks, which allows an employee to connect securely to a company's computer network, workers can be equally productive away from the office, says Ms Andrea Jackson, manager of worklife, flexibility and mobility programmes for IBM.
'At IBM, we focus on results,' she said. 'With that in mind it really doesn't matter where you work. We found (a flexible work option) allows employees to be more productive.'
Mr Matthew Kazmierczak, vice-president for research at AeA, said high energy costs are fuelling more interest in telework.
'This is win-win for the employer and the employee, and new technologies allow this to happen in a greater way than in the past,' he said.
A 2006 survey by the University of Maryland and Rockbridge Associates found about 2 per cent of American adults telecommute full time, with a further 9 per cent telecommuting part-time.
But it also indicated that the potential for telecommuting could apply to 25 per cent of the workforce and that if everyone who could were to take full advantage of telecommuting, the savings would be worth at least US$3.9 billion (S$5.3 billion).
Mr Jack Heacock, senior vice-president at Telework Coalition, a group promoting telecommuting, said the practice is moving beyond traditional areas such as call centres to other industries, even in manufacturing, where technology and service workers may be able to perform tasks from home.
'In the last six months we have been getting an increased number of calls from heavy industries looking at what they can do for their employees,' he said.
Mr Heacock said that even though the technology exists to allow many workers to telecommute, employers are often reluctant.
'Most employers staunchly believe it is imperative to get to the workplace,' he said.
Telecommuting can also be a tough sell when business conditions are weak.
'In a slowdown, managers want all their workers on the front line. As a worker, it is also a bad time to be away from the office.
'Even if your productivity is equal to or better than that of those in the office, the lack of face-time with your supervisors puts you at a distinct disadvantage,' said Mr John Challenger of consulting firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jun 2, 2008
