We have been discussing telecommuting in the sales world over the past year and have seen it appear in our sourcing efforts as a common topic. Inc.com looks into this trend in their article The Benefits of Telecommuting.
The focus of the article is in the realm of IT professionals. That group is obviously an early adopter of technology trends so this isn’t surprising:
In a survey of 1,400 chief information officers, 44 percent said their company’s IT workforce is telecommuting at a rate the same as or higher than five years ago, according to Robert Half Technology, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based technology-consulting firm.
Many IT workers fall to the younger side of the workforce so I would expect this trend to carry over into other departments. This trend is going to be an expected benefit of Gen Y workers over the next decade. If you are hesitant to go down this path, think of this:
The survey also found that among companies where IT employees telecommute, 34 percent of CIOs cited employee retention and morale as the greatest benefits. Another 28 percent of respondents said they saw increased productivity among employees due to the reduced commute time.