MAKING CARS OBSOLETE:

Working at Home Gets Easier: Advances in Technology Make Telecommuting More Feasible (CHRISTOPHER RHOADS and SARA SILVER, December 29, 2005, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)

The three-day transit strike was just the latest opportunity for some workers to put telecommuting technology to the test. Post-Sept. 11 concerns about terror attacks, growing fears of pandemics from severe acute respiratory syndrome and the avian flu, the increase in hurricanes, higher gas prices and greater traffic congestion, among other factors, have encouraged more people to find ways to work outside the office.

This year, 82.5 million workers world-wide have done their jobs at home one day a month, more than double the figure from 2000, according to Gartner Inc., a technology research firm. It predicts the figure will grow to more than 100 million workers by 2008.

The U.S., where some states as well as the federal government have passed legislation recently to enable more telecommuting, leads the development, according to Gartner. More than 23% of the country's work force worked at least one day a month at home this year, up from 12% in 2000, it said. It predicted that figure will grow to 27% by 2008. (The Gartner figures don't include corporate professionals who travel and work regularly from planes and hotels.)

Advancements in technology -- most notably the proliferation the past few years of high-speed Internet access in homes, cafes, airports and other locations -- has made the increase of telecommuting, or teleworking, possible and much easier than in the past.

"Broadband technology has made all of this a lot more feasible than five or six years ago," says Brett Caine, group vice president of Citrix Online, which makes software for teleworkers. Citrix Online is a unit of Citrix Systems Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

What is new, teleworking consultants agree, is a growing comfort with working from a remote location.

It's not as if white collar workers do anything once they get to the office anyway....

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 29, 2005 12:33 PM