ITAC Telework NewsFlash

November 1, 2005

(Please forward NewsFlash to a Fellow Employee)

In this issue:

• ITAC Releases 2005 Teleworker Survey Results
• New Member Telework Exchange gives latest costs to commute
• Telework at 100 Best Companies
• Graduate Student Seeks Teleworkers for Survey

2005 TELEWORK SURVEY: AMERICANS WORKING FROM MANY DIFFERENT LOCATIONS
Millions of Americans are working in a variety of different locations outside of their employer's office. This finding is based on research conducted for ITAC by The Dieringer Research Group as part of Dieringer's 2005 American Interactive Consumer Survey.

The national survey was conducted from August 15 - September 1, 2005. The survey asked respondents to check up to 13 different locations where they may have conducted work in the past month. The survey found that out of 135.4 million American workers:

• 45.1 million worked from home,
• 24.3 million people worked at client's or customer's place of business,
• 20.6 million in their car,
• 16.3 million while on vacation,
• 15.1 million at a park or outdoor location, and
• 7.8 million while on a train or airplane.

Among the 45.1 million Americans working from home, the average number of locations they work from is 3.4.

More details on this research can be found on the ITAC public site, www.workingfromanywhere.org. Members also can obtain a more detailed summary analysis from the bulletin board section of the ITAC members-only web site. All members will be receiving a separate e-mail within 24 hours of this newsletter with updated information on the members-only site, including their member username and password.

COMMUTING COSTS INCREASE
The Telework Exchange quantifies the exact costs in their September-released study, "Fuel Smart Economy: Its No Gas," where they estimated daily commuting costs spiked $5.7 million for Federal Workers, and nearly $106 million for the white collar workforce during the period between April and September. Total costs were $19 million and $355.8 million respectively. Further, the Telework Exchange calculates that federal government employees and the white-collar workforce use 31.1 million and 583.3 million gallons of gas, respectively, commuting five days a week. If all these people were to telework two days each week, they could significantly reduce gas consumption by 12.4 million gallons per week for federal employees and 233.3 million gallons per week for white-collar U.S. workers. For more details go to www.teleworkexchange.org.

TELEWORK 100% AT 100 BEST
Every year the magazine, Working Mother, lists the 100 Best Companies for being family friendly. Of this year's 100 Best, 100% of them said they provided a flextime plan and telecommuting on a part-time basis, while the national average for other companies is 56% and 37% respectively. Go to www.workingmother.com for more on the 100 Best.

GRADUATE STUDENT SEEKS YOUR HELP -- Brandi Sitel, a doctoral student at Temple University, is conducting a survey to assess the impact of certain individual and work characteristics (such as planning skills, experience level, seniority of the employee, measurability of work output and interdependence of tasks performed in the job functions) on telecommuting. Both teleworkers and non-teleworkers are needed to fill out the survey. In return for completing the survey, if you wish to receive a copy of the final paper detailing the findings, please e-mail Brandi at [email protected] or Dr. Ozgur Turetken at [email protected].