Atlanta is undergoing a shift in how workers are choosing to commute to work. More workers are seeking telecommuting options. The Georgia Department of Transportation's (GDOT) 2010 Atlanta Regional Commuter Survey reported a 35 percent increase in individuals choosing the home office over the corporate office from 2007 to 2010.
In addition, the survey revealed a 130 percent increase in full-time employees in Atlanta electing to work from home five or more days of their work week. Both employees and employers are seeing the upside of telecommuting options.
Telecommuting provides sanity and savings
Here are the top two reasons telecommuting works for both the employee and employer:
- Traffic - The average commute to work by Atlantans is a one hour round-trip (GDOT). If that's not bad enough, it can triple or double depending on the weather, accidents and the urgency of the driver in front of you. Aside from decreasing the insanity of road rage, working from home provides higher productivity for employers who would rather their employees be working on important projects rather than sitting in Atlanta traffic. Time is money.
- Work-Life Balance - During your initial orientation, you may hear "work-life balance" thrown in as an advantage gained from working for that particular company. Yet, it's hard to see the balance after surviving traffic, water cooler gossip and mandatory overtime. Sometimes a day away is just what an employee needs. Ironically, it's usually office antics and not workload that overwhelms office employees. Offering a day or two to work from home provides a means to keep the employee happy, productive and reduce turnover.
Are you over Atlanta traffic, gas prices or office antics? Check back often for more articles on the who, what, when, where, how and why of telecommuting in Atlanta.
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