Telework America 1999 Summary and Key Findings
Joanne Pratt
Joanne H. Pratt Associates

October 1999

AT&T provided funding for this project

Who are today's teleworkers?  The 1999 Telework America National Telework Survey found that today's 19.6 million teleworkers typically work 9 days per month at home with an average of 3 hours per week during normal business hours. In this study, teleworkers, also called telecommuters, are defined overall as employees or independent contractors who work at least one day per month at home during normal business hours.  Teleworkers were found to typically be married, well educated employees, the majority of whom are managers or professionals. 

The study confirms that telework enables employees to better manage their work and personal lives.  When they work at home employees are geographically closer to their family members and the institutions and services with which they interact.  Also, that means they can intersperse work and family tasks instead of being absent from work an entire day.  The study documents that teleworkers' productivity is the same or higher when working at home, and that being able to work at home is an employment incentive. Importantly, the research suggests a transformation away from the Industrial Age day-based model of telework to a project-based, network-centric model characteristic of the Information Age.