The Benefits of Telecommuting

OK...I probably would still be working for the company that I resigned from last May had they been open to telecommuting. Unfortunately, it was a radical move for them. Like many Midwest companies, if they let one person telecommute then someone else may want to do the same. My response to this is... SO WHAT!

I see telecommuting as a way to decrease traffic, reduce air pollution, and increase productivity. In 2004 a campaign was launched to penalize government agencies by docking funds if they fail to support telecommuting. Now the SEC, the State Department, the Department of Justice, and four other big agencies are required to offer every eligible worker the opportunity to telecommute.

Congressman Frank Wolf, a Republican whose Virginia district is home to many federal worker bees, has made telecommuting his pet project. "There is nothing magic in strapping ourselves into a metal box every day only to drive to an office where we sit behind a desk working on a computer," he told a congressional committee.

CNN Money reports that the most productive people are those that have developed ways to work outside offices, not in them.

With that said and the research to back it up, what is the Midwest waiting for?