National Work From Home Week ~ October 6 - October 12

If you've been stuck in traffic or suffering through a long commute this week, then you might have also considered how nice it would be to do your job from your living room. This first week of October is National Work From Home Week, and alternative working arrangements are an increasingly popular way to save employees the hassles of commuting and reduce costs for employers. As more and more of office workers’ jobs are done on computers and phones, that work is moving anywhere with Internet access.

While a sizable percentage of the workforce telecommutes every day because they live hours away from their office, employers are also seeing advantages to letting local employees occasionally work from home. In addition to offering a break from the commute, these arrangements can also give employees more flexibility in their personal schedules. Employers who regularly use alternative work schedules often take the opportunity to consolidate office space, since fewer employees are in the building. In the federal government, the General Services Administration has been redesigning offices with flexible “hotel” spaces instead of permanently assigned workstations to take advantage of space saved when people work from home.