Survey: Working From Home More Productive, Less Stress

July 20, 2011 7:47 AM

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BOSTON (CBS) – Companies that cringe at the idea of their employees working from home in their fuzzy slippers should take note: firms that allow their employees to work from home enjoy happier, more productive staffers, according to a new survey from office supply giant Staples Inc.

About 86-percent of telecommuters said they were more productive when working from their home office, according to the survey of about 140 telecommuters from Framingham-based Staples.

Staples business-to-business unit, Staples Advantage, conducted the survey.

Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal reports

Telecommuters also reported that their stress levels were about 25-percent lower since they started working from home and they also said they eat healthier meals when at home. (No snack machine to tempt hungry, stressed workers.)

People who work at home regularly also said they¹re more willing to put in extra time on the job, since they don¹t have to make the long commute every day.

Although every company has a different work-from-home policy, telecommuting is gaining steam nationally.

About 63 million U.S. workers will count themselves as telecommuters by 2016, according to Forrester Research.

Dereck

I know someone who works from home but leaves to do errands for hours on end and has her son wiggle the mouse every 20 minutes so she doesn’t appear to be idle.
Jane

Just like anything else, there will be people that take advantage of the system but this article is talking about overall percentages.
As someone who has had to endure a commute from hell for a few years, I can say that having the option to work from home some days would have certainly made me a more productive employee. There are plenty of distractions while you’re physically at work that can suck up just as much time… co-workers chatting, browsing the internet, etc etc.(and you have the people that sit and do nothing just to be in the office for appearances). Nevermind the fact that you have people wasting hrs of their time and company time commuting back and forth which lets face it puts you in a completely different mindset when you arrive at work… especially if you’re receiving no compensation for your commute. I had the opportunity to work from home for a few weeks and I definitely found myself to be more productive and I had a better attitude knowing I wasn’t spending over $150/week on gas for my car (and I don’t even have a “gas guzzler”).
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Jay Kishan

Working from home option provides more choices to people.

For example, a mom or dad who wants to be with their kids, this is a great option. Similarly due to the technology most office jobs can be done from home with the same efficiency without any commute. The cost for employment also is less since no need to pay for day care, no wardrobe costs.

You can look at http://workathomejobsblog.net (or click my name above) where several legitimate work at home jobs are posted from reputed companies in US and Canada such as Humana, KForce, Enterprise Rent a Car, American Express etc.
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