Employees Working from Home

ANNUAL SURVEY SHOWS AMERICANS ARE WORKING FROM MANY DIFFERENT LOCATIONS OUTSIDE THEIR EMPLOYER’S OFFICE

Results Presented by ITAC From The Dieringer Research Group's 2004 – 2005 American Interactive Consumer Survey

http://www.workingfromanywhere.org/news/pr100405.htm

Silver Spring, MD– October 4, 2005 – ITAC, the Telework Advisory Group for WorldatWork, reports that millions of Americans are working in a variety of different locations outside of their employer’s office. This result is based on research conducted for ITAC by The Dieringer Research Group as part of Dieringer’s 2005 American Interactive Consumer Survey.

The national survey was conducted from August 15 – September 1, 2005. The survey asked respondents to check up to 13 different locations where they may have conducted work in the past month. The survey found that out of 135.4 million American workers:

• 45.1 million worked from home,
• 24.3 million people worked at client’s or customer’s place of business,
• 20.6 million in their car,
• 16.3 million while on vacation,
• 15.1 million at a park or outdoor location, and
• 7.8 million while on a train or airplane

Among the 45.1 million Americans working from home, the average number of locations they work from is 3.4.

This survey demonstrates that millions of Americans are embracing telework – the ability to work from anywhere. Other terms relating to telework include telecommuting (work at home), virtual work and mobile work.

“The ability for people to work from anywhere is attributed in part to increasing availability of portable computer and high-speed communication technologies,“ said Robert Smith, Director of ITAC. “For example, the use of broadband in the home by teleworkers increased by over 60% during the past year resulting in 25.6 million home-based teleworkers with high speed access.”

Another interesting finding from the survey results was a 30% increase during the past year in employee telecommuters, while self-employed telecommuters decreased by 2%. These findings are possibly the result of a strengthening economy and an increasing acceptance by post-recession employers to permit telework. Overall, there are 26.1 million people who work from home at least one day a month, and 22.2 million at least once a week.

About ITAC
On January 1, 2005, ITAC (www.workingfromanywhere.org) became the Telework Advisory Group for WorldatWork. Prior to this year, ITAC was the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC). ITAC continues its mission of advancing the growth and success of work independent of location. ITAC members will receive additional summary analysis of this research.