Work-at-home trend expected to grow in new year

Lori Holcomb enjoys one of the shortest commutes to work of any Unum Corp. employee.

The 33-year-old customer service specialist does her work from the bedroom of her Soddy-Daisy home — sometimes in her pajamas.

She is among a growing number of local workers using Internet links to work at home, saving both workers and their employers money.

“I don’t have all the expenses and time involved in driving back and forth to work, and I found without all of the distractions of the office, my productivity went up nearly 20 percent when I started working from home,” Mrs. Holcomb said.

Experts expect the work-at-home trend to continue in 2010 as a growing share of workers are employed in information-based jobs and increased broadband connections enable more workers to perform their tasks from telephones and computers at home.

“The Industrial Revolution moved people from an agrarian society where people worked at home on the farm to a mass-production economy where people went to a factory to work,” said Chuck Wilsker, president of The Telework Coalition in Washington, D.C. “In the information age of today, people are able to do their work most anywhere, and many of them are choosing to stay at home.”

In Georgia, an estimated 188,556 people regularly do their work at home, according to U.S. Bureau of Census estimates. In Tennessee, 94,257 persons work at home and, in metropolitan Chattanooga, about 2,400 workers are employed in work-at-home arrangements.

Kate Lister, co-author of “Undress for Success: The Naked Truth about Making Money at Home,” a recent book studying telecommuting trends, estimates nearly 20 times more workers could work at home.

“Unfortunately, there is still some resistance by some managers and other resistant to change, but we estimate at least 40 percent of the work done could be done at home,” she said.

“the road less traveled”

Unum now has nearly 1,000 employees who work at home, including 300 full-time and 75 part-time workers in Tennessee, company officials said.

Unum spokesman M.C. Guenther said the insurance company continues to expand its use of work-at-home options for the growing number of employees who volunteer for such jobs.

Chattanooga’s biggest private employer — BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee — wants to double its telecommuting staff from 400 to 800 in the next year, according to Jeff Wakefield, director of administration and process improvement for the insurer.

“So far, the program is working very well with all types of jobs in our business,” he said. “We’re able to communicate with and monitor the activities of our at-home workers throughout the day, and many have found such an arrangement to be more productive for them and us.”

Most of the 4,200 employees of BlueCross moved this year into the company’s new $300 million corporate campus atop Cameron Hill in downtown Chattanooga. But the company still leases other office space around town, and Mr. Wakefield said workers who perform their tasks at home help save BlueCross the expense of maintaining office space and parking for such workers.

“It’s not for everyone, but we see tremendous benefits from this trend,” he said.

High-speed Internet connections, enhanced personal computers and upgraded Web security systems have combined to turn most any home into a virtual office. At the same time, cost-conscious businesses and workers are eager to find ways to cut travel time, office expenses and work distractions.

“We probably have enough offices and roads already built in America for many more years to come if we would take advantage of the work-at-home opportunities all around us,” Mr. Wilsker said.

Employers usually provide the computer and phone connection, and BlueCross even gives its at-home workers an ergonomically designed chair and desk.

Nonetheless, Mr. Wakefield estimates employers can save, on average, up to $20,000 per employee a year by at-home work arrangements.

“The trend toward the virtual office and work-at-home arrangements with employees was already beginning before the economy turned down,” said John Sorrrow, Cigna Healthcare’s mid-South division president. “In our business, we’re seeing more people want to work at home, and we’re seeing the advantages of having them do so. It’s a win for employers and employees because it lowers our real estate and office costs and it allows people to work where they choose to work.”