Value of Telecommuting

[Anonymous]

Assuming average commute times of about 50 minutes per day, how much would you be willing to sacrifice in pay in order to rid yourself of wasting 9 days per year (or 2.5% of your life) on commuting?
On top of that, how much would you be willing to sacrifice in pay to have the ability to take your work/lunch breaks at home?
Be as descriptive as possible. Its likely that % salary sacrifices will not be uniform across all pay levels.

 

[Ocean Mist]

I have a calculation down to compute this. Basically, I allot leeway for 30 minutes. Anything over that amount, I calculate it based my hourly rate. If rent is lower in the area I work (which it usually is because opportunity cost is too high), I move somewhere closer to my job.
For example, if I have to commute 3 hours a day in total (lots of traffic in my area), let’s say I make $10 an hour for simplicity’s sake. 2.5 hours * 5 days a week * 4 weeks in a month = 50 hours * $10 an hour = $500. If I can find rent for that amount, I would move closer.
This is not to mention that I would not like driving in traffic for 3 hours a day.
^OP -> How about you?

 

[ASSet_MANagement]

My commute is 10 minutes.
It feels like it takes forever.
My old commute was 2 minutes.

 

[jayjay77]

I prefer to work in an office. I believe the networking and career advancement opportunites from being on site outweigh the cost of the commute. An ideal situtation would be 80% on site/ 20% telecommute.

 

[Muddahudda]

Depends on the commute. I walk. It takes 12-15 minutes. I used to commute about 1hr past mountains & lakes with a bunch of good guys. That was enjoyable. Would probably draw the line at a soul destroying metro ride, competing against the masses….
Instead of commuting, you could choose to live closer to the office… to simplify your analysis, the cost is the difference in price you currently pay to live where you are in your particular city vs renting/buying next door to your office.

 

[eureka]

I take that train and that is when I get reading done, so I don’t mind it at all. I used to drive in traffic, which I hated…good incentive to work longer hours since the commute/work trade off of leaving during rush hour is favorable.

 

[mar350]

i like the mass-commute in the morning - less so in the evening
my bus ride takes 15 minutes in the am (feels like 7 minutes) and 15 minutes at night (feels like 30)
telecommuting is the way to go if you dont have to be around people all day, otherwise you need to be in the office. way too much would go on without you knowing.

 

[akanska]

i think it depends if one is on the career path they seek or not. If so- then as noted above the ‘face time’ is important and I would not telecommute much at all, but if I was trying to switch industries/ do some entrepreneurial venture I would take a pretty big cut for the opportunity. I would assume most of you here, if you were to have a good reason to do so, could complete you days duties in much less time than you take now… leaving plenty for secondary activities like studying, writing business plans, networking, etc.
My neighbor telecommutes (she’s @ IBM) and its a sweet gig- saves her a ton on childcare since she’s at home all day + her stable income and benefits allow her spouse to take on more risky ventures (he just opened a chiropractor clinic).

 

[Deleted User]

akanska, thanks for pointing that out.
with two bread-winners in many information worker families, telecommuting becomes a solution to a growing societal problem. it allows you to actually have some face-time with your kids while they’re young and need that face-time with a parent (or else they’ll turn into emotionless robots, a generalization but probably has some merit).
i was talking to my spouse about this, and the only negative against telecommuting for the individual would disappear should telecommuting become the norm for ALL employees in the knowledge/information sectors. the negative is that one won’t be considered for promotions b/c of below-average face-time with current managers, but if all employees work from home, this is not an issue, and it would likely result in better promotions, based on merit instead of @$$kissing.
so with no negatives to the individual except for a reduction in “work community”, the individual gains all the positives, with the major ones being more time with family and friends instead of coworkers, and the money/headache saved on commuting.
but like it was said in a previous thread, the employer sets where you work and the positives for the employer include:
> increased productivity; studies show that employees are more productive at home
> lower salary costs (which tend to be a major expense for knowledge/information employers
> lower overhead (no need for 90% of your office buildings/space)
plus, if we ever get any carbon tax in NA, expect to see carbon credits for employers who promote telecommuting, further incentivizing employers to not offer but require telecommuting.
the only REAL issue with telecommuting is security of information.. that is the only barrier that I see. and for those of you who love your commute so much that you’d rather continue commuting, ride a bus around your town for 20 mins then head back home and start work, haha!