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Transportation Implications of Telecommuting

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv

List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Chapter 1 - Background

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Purpose and Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Historical Evolution of Telecommuting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Telecommuting and Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Telecommuting and the Public Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

DRIVING FORCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

TELEWORK - A TELETAXONOMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Telecommuting Frequency, Locations and Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Full-time / Part-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Home-Based . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Regional Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . 13

Satellite Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 14

Local Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Neighborhood Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 15

Jobs with Telecommuting Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Industry/Company Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

SCOPE AND NATURE OF CURRENT TELECOMMUTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Telecommuter Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Telecommuting Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 21

Physically Challenged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . 22

OTHER RELATED TELESUBSTITUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

TELECOMMUTING DEMONSTRATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..26

Examples of Existing Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Implementation / Practical Telecommuting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 27

Chapter 2 - Factors Affecting the Future Degree and Impacts of Telecommuting

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

PERSPECTIVES ON TELECOMMUTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 30

EMPLOYER BENEFITS AND CONCERNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Potential Employer Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 32

Employer Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 36

Organization-level Institutional Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Management Attitudinal Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 37

Remote Supervision and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. 37

Potential Employer Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS AND CONCERNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Potential Employee Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Employee Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Isolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Career Advancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Performance Appraisals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Support Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Job Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Overworking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Work Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Work/Life Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

POLICIES OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

TECHNOLOGY AVAILABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

REGULATORY, LEGAL, TAX, AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Legal and Regulatory Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Zoning Restrictions and Planning Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Tax Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Liability/Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Health and Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Protection of Workers' Rights / Union Opposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Regulation / Banning of Homework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Contractual Relationships / Compensation and Benefits Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

SUMMARY OF RELEVANT FACTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

BASELINE ESTIMATES OF POTENTIAL TELECOMMUTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Current and Potential Numbers of Telecommuters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Population/Labor Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Information Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Rate of Adoption of Telecommuting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Potential Number of Telecommuters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Allocation of Telecommuters Over Various Forms of Telecommuting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Telecommuting Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Chapter 3 - Potential Transportation-related Impacts of Telecommuting

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Changes in Travel Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Impacts on Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Changes in Modal Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Congestion Mitigation and Latent Travel Demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Specific Assumptions and Limitations in the Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

NET TRANSPORTATION IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Summary of VMT and Trip Reductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Interactions With Other Demand Management Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

ENERGY USE IMPACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

AIR QUALITY IMPACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

SAFETY IMPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

TIME SAVINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

OTHER EFFECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Health Care Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Rural Area Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Telecommuting/Urban Sprawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Job Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Chapter 4 - Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Appendix A - Telecommuting Technologies and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1

Appendix B - Details of Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1

Appendix C - Profiles of Major Demonstration Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C-1

Appendix D - Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .D-1

Appendix E - DOT Telecommuting Workshop Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-1

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

Figure 1. Work-At-Home Trend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Figure 2. Telecommuting Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Figure 3. Telecommuters By Occupation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Figure 4. Telecommuting Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Figure 5. Size of Employer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Figure 6. Businesses Using Telecommuting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Figure 7. Technologies Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Figure 8. Telecommuter By Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Figure 9. Telecommuter Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Figure 10. Telecommuting Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Figure 11. Information Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Figure 12. Nilles 1991 Telecommuting Forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Figure 13. Telecommuting Forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Figure 14. VMT by Trip Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Figure 15. Annual Vehicle Miles Saved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Figure 16. Highway Vehicle Percent of U.S. Energy Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Figure 17. U.S. Sources of Air Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Figure 18. Distribution of Hydrocarbon Emissions by Trip Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Figure 19. Relationship of Emission Rate to Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Figure 20. Traffic Deaths / Death Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

List of Tables

Table 1. Information Worker Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Table 2. Formal / Informal Telecommuting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Table 3. Perspectives of Telecommuting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Table 4. Possible Factors Contributing to Increased Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Table 5. Population/Information Worker Projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Table 6. Telecommuter Projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Table 7. Home/Regional Center Telecommuter Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Table 8. Values of Factors Used to Compute Transportation Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Table 9. VMT/Trip Savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Table 10. Petroleum Consumption by Highway Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Table 11. Fuel Savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Table 12. Gas Tax Revenue Losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Table 13. Emissions Savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Table 14. Safety Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Table 15. Motor Vehicle Deaths / Death Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Table 16. Time Savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Table 17. Projected Future Telecommuting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Table 18. Transportation Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Table B-1. Transportation Impacts of Telecommuting - Projected (Lower Bound) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2

Table B-2. Transportation Impacts of Telecommuting - Projected (Upper Bound) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-4

Table B-3. Vehicle Miles Traveled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-8

Table B-4. EPA Mobile 4.1 Emissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-10

Executive Summary

Objective

This report, addressing the potential cost and benefits of telecommuting, has been prepared by the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, as required by section 352 of the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1992. The report focuses on future impacts of telecommuting on transportation, environment, and energy use. Despite the existence of many telecommuters and numerous pilot projects and studies, telecommuting is still in a very early stage. The projections of future telecommuting and transportation impacts provided here could change substantially as technology continues to develop, and experience is gained in understanding employer and employee response to this new form of working.

Principal Conclusions

· Telecommuting is now practiced by approximately 2 million workers and could reach 7.5 to 15 million within a decade.

· Estimates of the future level and impacts of telecommuting are highly uncertain.

· Telecommuting has the potential to provide significant transportation-related public benefits in this decade.

· The actual amount and impact of telecommuting in any particular region will depend strongly on the local transportation environment and travel demand measures.

· The congestion and air quality improvements potentially attainable through telecommuting could be substantially diminished if telecommuters removed from the highways are replaced by the emergence of latent travel demand.

· Direct energy, air quality, safety, and time benefits of telecommuting will be increased as the degree of congestion is reduced.

· Telecommuting could stimulate urban sprawl and have other adverse impacts on land use and public transportation.

· Factors which will impact the rate of growth of telecommuting include uncertainty of benefits for employers and the considerable time and effort inherently required to bring about major changes in workstyles and ways of doing business.

· Telecommunication services and equipment are adequate for most current telecommuting, but high-bandwidth capabilities will be needed in the future and would be beneficial now.

· Government agencies can play a significant role in facilitating and encouraging telecommuting.

· Telecommuting can be an effective tool for travel demand management, but cannot be mandated.

· Continuing research is needed to clarify telecommuting costs, benefits, and future impacts.

Background

Computer and telecommunications advances in recent years, including computer networks and data systems, FAX machines, and electronic mail, have dramatically widened the choice of workplace for information workers and others so they can work wherever these tools are available, including at home. This development has paralleled trends toward a service economy, greater worker flexibility, empowerment of employees, and rising frustration from the irritation and time loss associated with commuting. One result is that a substantial portion of the U.S. labor force, perhaps as much as 30 percent, now works at home at least part of the time. In addition to self-employed individuals, contract workers, "moonlighters," and people simply bringing work home from the office, an estimated two million of these people are full-time employees who otherwise would commute daily to an office or other workplace. Most can be characterized very generally as "information workers," in that their work focuses substantially on the creation, distribution, or use of information. In effect, telecommunications services are substituted, partially or completely, for transportation to a more traditional workplace. This practice is called "telecommuting."

Telecommuting does not necessarily imply working at home. Satellite "telework" centers near or in residential areas, fully equipped with appropriate telecommunications equipment and services, can serve employees of single or multiple firms, co-located on the basis of geography rather than business function. In many cases a shared facility provides a more practical and satisfactory location for telecommuting than the home, and a setting less threatening to traditional business management styles. Telecommuting is often practiced as little as one or two days each week, although it can be full-time. While today's most visible telecommuters are predominantly managers or professionals, telecommuting is potentially relevant to most information workers, as well as to some other types of employees.

As corporate information technology and public telecommunications services have advanced, interest in telecommuting has increased markedly in recent years. A major reason is its reported potential to improve significantly both the productivity and quality of life of employees. Employers are attracted not only by the potential productivity gains, but also by greater success in recruiting and retaining employees.

From a national perspective, telecommuting is of current interest because of its potential transportation implications, especially with respect to air quality and congestion relief. The public cost of urban traffic congestion is not limited to personal stress and costs of delays and corporate productivity losses; commuting in general, and peak-hour congestion in particular, are major sources of air pollutants. The Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990, requires that stringent measures be taken in many regions to reduce air pollution through constraints on vehicular traffic. Telecommuting is seen by many as an important tool in managing demand for transportation. In addition to lower congestion and less air pollution, potential benefits could include reduced national petroleum use, fewer highway accidents, and eased transportation infrastructure requirements. Telecommuting can also expand opportunities for people with impaired mobility or tied to the home for any other reason.

Telecommuting is not without possible negative effects. Concerns expressed in the literature include conversion of employees into contract workers lacking job protection and benefits, and perception of pressure to work excessive hours. Maintenance of a clear distinction between work and home life can be difficult for some, leading to serious stress and burnout. So far, these problems have proven minimal for most telecommuters, who continue to go to the office several days per week. Another concern is whether those who telecommute, particularly from a remote satellite center, will move still further into rural areas, thus negating the energy and emissions benefits and accelerating urban sprawl. Other negative impacts on land use, public and urban transportation are possible. From the employer's perspective, concerns include the cost and effort necessary to implement a program and the challenge of remote supervision.

Although telecommuting is conceptually simple, it touches on many areas of life and raises important questions and issues for which answers are not yet available. The degree to which telecommuting is adopted, the specific forms it takes, and the magnitude of the public benefits actually obtained depend largely on attitudes of people toward their work and workplace, the adaptability of corporate culture, the nature of the work performed, and the specifics of changes in their travel behavior. Not surprisingly, there is wide variation among predictions of the future of telecommuting and its impacts on transportation.

Current and Projected Levels of Telecommuting

Telecommuting activities are often carried out on an informal basis and are not captured in any comprehensive statistical data base. The principal source of statistical information as to current practices is an annual commercial random telephone survey that explores aspects of working at home. In addition to that survey, several studies based on state telecommuting pilot programs provide insight into the suitability and acceptability of telecommuting for individuals, jobs, and organizations. This technical literature, which generally indicates a substantial increase in telecommuting through and beyond the next decade, provides a foundation for projections of telecommuting behavior over the next 10 years. The margin of uncertainty is quite large; upper and lower bound projections, differing by a factor of two in number of telecommuters, have been developed. These projections are shown in the table below.

PROJECTED FUTURE TELECOMMUTING	1992	1997	2002
Number of Telecommuters (millions)	2.0	3.1 - 6.2	7.5 - 15.0
Percent of Labor Force	1.6%	2.3% - 4.6%	5.2% - 10.4%
Percent of Telecommuters Working at Home	99.0%	74.3%	49.7%
Percent of Telecommuters Working at Telework Centers	1.0%	25.7%	50.3%
Average Days per Week	1-2	2-3	3-4

Transportation Impacts of Telecommuting

Potential beneficial transportation impacts of telecommuting include reduction in highway congestion and associated lost time, reduced emission of pollutants, savings in energy and petroleum consumption, and fewer highway accidents. Telecommuting is already widely seen as a potentially valuable travel demand management measure to reduce congestion and meet existing ambitious national air quality goals.

The projections of numbers of telecommuters were combined with current travel-related statistics to develop estimates of transportation impacts over the next 10 years for the upper and lower bound scenarios. The results, presented in the table below, suggest that substantial benefits could be attainable by the end of this decade. These projections make clear that telecommuting could eventually play a significant role in addressing problems of urban congestion, safety, air quality, and energy use, but also indicate that it is neither a near-term nor complete solution to these concerns. However, the actual amount and impact of telecommuting in any particular region will depend strongly on travel demand management measures in place and other aspects of the local transportation environment. In some cases the transportation implications could be substantially greater than suggested by the table below.

TRANSPORTATION IMPACTS	1992	1997	2002
Saving in Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) (billions)	3.7	10.0 - 12.9	17.6 - 35.1
Percentage Saving in Total Passenger VMT	0.23%	0.49% - 0.63%	0.7% - 1.4%
Percentage Saving in Commuting VMT	0.70%	1.6% - 2.0%	2.3% - 4.5%
Saving in Gallons of Gasoline (millions)	178	475.9 - 619	840 - 1,679
Percentage Saving in Gasoline	0.25%	0.6% - 0.8%	1.1% - 2.1%
Value of Gasoline Saved (millions)	$203	$543 - $706	$958 - $1,914
Percentage Saving in Emissions NOx HC CO	0.23% 0.31% 0.36%	0.6% - 0.8% 0.8% - 1.1% 1.0% - 1.3%	1.1% - 2.2% 1.4% - 2.7% 1.7% - 3.4%
Annual Hours Saved for Average Telecommuter	77	93	110.3
Total Annual Hours Saved (millions)	156	444 - 577	826 - 1,652

Telecommuting is at such an early stage that prediction of its rate of growth and transportation impacts is difficult. Many factors contribute to a high level of uncertainty in the estimates presented above. The actual degree to which jobs, individuals, and employers will be suited to telecommuting is not clear. Most demonstration or pilot programs have been limited in scale and have involved carefully selected workers and managers. Directly relevant data concerning travel behavior, emissions, and fuel use are not available and would vary from region to region.

The figures shown in the preceding tables do not tell the whole story. Where congestion is severe or strong disincentives to vehicle use are in place, telecommuting might be much more attractive to firms and individuals than in an "average" location. In addition, even a modest decrease of traffic due to telecommuting could reduce congestion significantly, thereby magnifying savings in time and fuel use, and reduction in emission of pollutants. Conversely, telecommuters who at one time commuted by carpools or public transportation, may now choose to drive single-occupant automobiles due to the reduced congestion. In the latter case, congestion reduction would be diminished, and transportation benefits associated with the telecommuter would be partially nullified. The magnitude of these factors, and the balance struck between them, will vary considerably from place to place. Generalization as to the net result is not possible. The benefit estimates shown above do not include either of these important but unquantifiable effects.

Factors Affecting the Future Course of Telecommuting

Telecommuting is not suitable to every job, person, or situation. Whether an individual telecommutes, and how often, are results of the decisions of employer and employee, made within the constraints of the existing physical and institutional environment. Conditions that must be met before a person can become an active home-based telecommuter include the following:

• The job must be suited, at least in part, to performance at a remote location.
• The capabilities and personal characteristics of the employee must be appropriate to working with little or no direct supervision.
• The employing firm must accept telecommuting as a legitimate and desirable activity, provide necessary support, and have appropriate information technology in place.
• The supervisor or manager of the employee must accept the concept and practice of telecommuting.
• The employee must feel comfortable with telecommuting in terms of its suitability to his or her personal work habits and style, its effect on social interactions and on advancement and career.
• The employee must have a suitable workplace and working time free of distractions (such as child care responsibilities).
• Available technology, particularly telecommunications services, must be adequate and cost-effective for the work to be performed at home.

While all of these conditions clearly can be met in many cases, each will filter out a portion of the potential telecommuting population. Some of these elements are eliminated or modified for the case of satellite telework centers, but implementation of centers is more complicated, costs could be higher, and depending on specific circumstances, vehicle-miles and emissions reductions could be zero or even negative.

Even when these conditions are satisfied, telecommuting will only occur if businesses and workers are sufficiently motivated toward it. The local transportation environment will be important in establishing the level of motivation. Severe congestion, stringent travel demand management measures, and lack of widespread convenient public transit are all factors that can increase the incentive for establishment of telecommuting programs and participation in them. Similarly, factors affecting the cost of commuting -- vehicle and fuel cost, or dispersion of workers over a large area, also encourage telecommuting.

The rate at which telecommuting is adopted will also be constrained by the still-uncertain cost-benefit implications for businesses and the pace at which employers and workers become familiar and comfortable with this new way of working. Employers naturally await more definitive evidence for claims of dramatic productivity increases. Employees often have initial misgivings about social isolation, being "out of the office loop", being at a disadvantage for career advancement, and mixing their home and work lives. Other concerns revolve around the process of selecting who can telecommute, remote supervision, and fears of some telecommuters that they must work extra hours to justify and protect their status. Overall, a high level of trust is required between worker and employer.

In pilot programs, these potential problems generally have not proven to be serious, and impressive productivity improvements have been reported. However, in many of these cases telecommuting is practiced only a few days per week, and participants have been carefully selected. These programs, thus provide valuable insight and mitigate some key uncertainties, but do not permit firm conclusions to be drawn.

Major uncertainties with important implications for transportation include the form and importance that local telework centers ultimately achieve and the degree to which telecommuting is center-based as compared to home-based.

Establishment of remote telework centers is a complex undertaking that may require several years to come to fruition.

Barriers to Telecommuting

For the most part, available telecommunications services appear adequate for a large range of telecommuting situations. Of course, a more advanced telecommunications infrastructure would enable more widescale and sophisticated telecommuting to occur. Today, wide-bandwidth services required for video functions or transfer of very large quantities of data are often lacking. While this can be an obstacle to "high-end" telecommuting and other telework situations, availability of telecommunications services do not appear to constitute a serious limitation at present, although this could change in the near future. The need for major advances in the nation's telecommunications infrastructure to support general business, commercial and home uses, an explicit objective of the Clinton Administration, will create markets and drive development of infrastructure to a much greater degree than telecommuting applications. However, many complex and contentious regulatory and legislative issues arise in creating the sophisticated, efficient, high-capacity, broad-bandwidth U.S. telecommunications infrastructure; resolution of these issues could accelerate future telecommuting and other business and societal uses.

A variety of obstacles to telecommuting are identified in the literature, including liability considerations, zoning and tax laws, labor union concerns, and occupational health and safety issues. Pilot program experiences to date suggest that none is a serious constraint to widespread adoption of telecommuting. Nonetheless, as telecommuting becomes more common, issues such as tax codes, liability, and labor laws could become more intrusive. Those topics and related issues will have to be addressed in a responsive and fully informed manner by the responsible Federal, state, and local agencies if telecommuting is to achieve its full potential.

Other Telesubstitutions

Many activities, other than commuting to work, are already affected by the availability of sophisticated telecommunications services and computer networks. In general, those services provide convenience and access, and may not significantly affect transportation. These effects are largely unquantifiable at present. These "telesubstitutions" include the ubiquitous automated teller machine (ATM); shopping by catalog and toll-free telephone calls, or home shopping services using cable TV; and electronic submission of tax returns.

Particularly in rural areas, there is increasing interest in providing educational services and medical consultation via telecommunications, as well as establishing telework centers that might provide more and higher-paid employment than could otherwise exist locally. Full-time telecommuting from these regions could also favorably affect the character and economic structure of these areas. However, most observers find that the degree to which rural development in general can be stimulated in this way is likely to be quite limited, at least in the near term.

Governmental Roles

Telecommuting can lead to a reduction in the number of commuting vehicles and thus contribute to the attainment of cleaner air and congestion mitigation. Therefore, many communities view telecommuting as a transportation demand management measure and provide government assistance for establishing a telecommuting strategy. Federal assistance is also available. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), Public Law 102-240, provides Federal assistance for "operational improvements" which include" ...transportation demand management facilities, strategies, and programs..." (Section 1005(f)). Therefore, ISTEA funds may be used to support the planning, development, and marketing of telecommuting programs designed to improve air quality and reduce congestion.

Several states have established telecommuting programs for state employees and actively promote telecommuting in the private sector. At the Federal level, the Flexible Workplace Project, sponsored by The President's Council on Management Improvement, is testing the feasibility and utility of flexible workplace arrangements for Federal employees. This project, managed by the Office of Personnel Management and the General Accounting Office, is designed to facilitate the implementation of pilot programs in Federal agencies.

The telecommunications environment for telecommuting will be significantly affected by the Clinton Administration's stated goal of encouraging investment in the national information infrastructure. The President's recently-announced technology policy specifically notes the importance to the U.S. economy of stimulating development of a broadband, interactive telecommunications network -- an "information superhighway" -- linking the nation's businesses, schools, libraries, hospitals, governments, and other users.

The Department of Transportation will work with states, local governments and the private sector to monitor telecommuting activities, collect and analyze data and disseminate relevant information concerning the growth of telecommuting and its implications for transportation and land use.

Future Research

Telecommuting is a diffuse activity, not well captured in current statistics, and transportation impacts are unlikely to be directly measurable. Needed information, particularly involving transportation-related behavior, can be acquired only with a special effort. The Department of Transportation, working with other Federal agencies, states, local governments, and the private sector, will consider undertaking research, as appropriate, to assure that telecommuting policies and programs are based on an in-depth understanding of this new phenomenon, its growth and future course, and its transportation-related implications.

Chapter 1 - Background

INTRODUCTION

Approximately 30 percent of the U.S. labor force, roughly 38 millon people, currently work at home at least part of the time as shown in Figure 1. While most are self-employed or are simply working after regular hours, a growing number of them are full-time employees who otherwise would commute daily to an office or other workplace. Most can be generally characterized as "information workers" in that their work focuses substantially on the creation, distribution, or use of information. The ability to work at home has in large part been made possible by corporate use of computer and telecommunications advances during the last several years. Sophisticated telephone services, personal computers linked by phone lines to central networks and data systems, facsimile machines, and electronic and voice mail systems have dramatically widened the choice of workplace for information and other workers so they can work wherever these tools are available, including at home. In effect, telecommunications services are substituted, partially or completely, for transportation to a conventional office or other workplace. This practice is called "telecommuting."

As commonly used, the term telecommuting does not always imply working at home. Satellite or local work centers, fully equipped with telecommunications equipment and services, can serve the employees of one or several firms, collocated on the basis of geography rather than business function. In many cases, a shared facility provides a more practical and satisfactory environment for telecommuting than the home. Telecommuting is often practiced only one or two days each week, although it can be fulltime. While today's telecommuters are predominantly managers or professionals, many observers see this practice as potentially relevant to most information workers, as well as to other types of employees.

Interest in telecommuting, now that the enabling technologies have reached satisfactory levels of cost and performance, has increased markedly in recent years. In part, this is because in many cases it can significantly improve the productivity and quality of life of employees. From the public perspective, the principal attraction lies in its implications for transportation and air quality. The public cost of urban traffic congestion is not limited to personal stress experienced by commuters and the associated delay costs and corporate productivity losses; commuting in general, and peak-hour congestion in particular, are major sources of air pollutants, energy uses, and accidents. Because of this, the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990, requires stringent measures be taken in many regions to reduce air pollution through constraints on vehicular traffic. In addition to more familiar approaches such as flexible working hours, carpooling, and use of public transit, telecommuting is seen by many as a potentially important means of managing traffic demand. Other significant possible benefits include reduced national energy and petroleum use, fewer highway accidents, and eased transportation infrastructure requirements. Telecommuting can also be of great value in expanding opportunities for people of impaired mobility or tied to the home for any other reason.

While the basic concept of telecommuting is simple, it touches on many areas of life and raises questions and issues difficult to answer on the basis of current limited experience. The degree to which it is adopted in the future, the specific forms it takes, and the magnitude of the benefits actually obtained depend not only on the technologies involved and the capabilities of the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure, but much more importantly on factors such as attitudes of people toward their work and workplace, the suitability of telecommuting to corporate culture, and the nature of the work performed. There is wide variation in predictions of the future of telecommuting and its impacts on transportation.

Purpose and Scope

This report has been prepared by the Department of Transportation (DOT), in consultation with the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, in response to a statutory requirement to conduct a study of the potential costs and benefits of telecommuting, focusing on the impact of transportation on energy use and air quality. The report provides a description of the nature of telecommuting and estimates of its near-term future prospects and implications for transportation and related areas. Although there are many telecommuters and a substantial number of pilot projects and studies have been conducted or are in progress, telecommuting is still in its infancy. The congressionally requested estimates of the potential reduction in commuting and associated pollution, energy use, and lives lost, as well as other social impacts, should be viewed in the context of a full discussion of the many issues and uncertainties that surround the subject.

Accordingly, this report addresses the following topics:

• The nature of telecommuting in its various forms, its current extent, and how new uses of telecommunications will substitute for transportation.
• The forces, both positive and negative, shaping the future course of telecommuting, including barriers to its growth that are within the purview of the Federal and state and local governments.
• Estimates and projections of the growth of telecommuting in the next 10 years.
• Estimates of the effects of telecommuting on transportation, including estimates of:

-The amount and type of reduction of commuting;

• Associated safety, environmental, and energy benefits;
• Impacts on other modes of transportation; and
• Other social impacts of telecommuting.

Many of the studies surveyed project the numbers of telecommuters 15 to 30 years into the future on the basis of a high level of substitution for transportation. However, these long-term projections have necessarily been developed with a very limited foundation of data. Since this report is to provide information to facilitate formulation of government policies regarding telecommuting, its focus is relatively near-term - the next five to ten years. The principal topic of the report is the potential reduction in highway traffic associated with use of information technologies that permit working at home or at local facilities rather than commuting to a conventional workplace. Although the substitution of telecommunications for transportation has intriguing potential in many areas of life, in most other cases (telemedicine, teleeducation, teleshopping) near-term transportation implications are modest; the real benefits are in providing convenient and efficient access to various services. Those topics will be discussed briefly but will not be examined in depth. Although the emphasis is near-term, many of the issues raised have clear long-term significance.

This report is based primarily on a careful examination of the large and diverse body of literature on the subject, most of it produced in the last few years. The literature covers a broad range of applications (remote work, teleconferencing, teleservices) and issues (transportation, urban and regional geography, economics, management, social and psychological, technical). Types of publications examined include books, policy overviews, various academic research reports, demonstration projects/studies, expert testimonies, personal interviews, in-depth articles from specialist computing and management press, general office automation literature, futurist publications, popular press articles, surveys of teleworkers, and how-to manuals. The effort was initiated by a 2-day workshop at the Department of Transportation which focused and elicited the views of a wide range of individuals knowledgeable in various aspects of telecommuting (see Appendix E).

Historical Evolution of Telecommuting

One of the first people to foresee the coming of "telework" (as it was termed in Europe) was Norbert Wiener in his landmark book The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society published in 1950. Wiener discussed a hypothetical example of an architect living in Europe but supervising the construction of a building in the United States. Using the recently introduced facsimile transmission service "Ultrafax," he said, "...even without transmitting or receiving any material commodities, the architect may take an active part in the construction of the building.... In short, the bodily transmission of the architect and his document may be replaced very effectively by the message-transmission of communications which do not entail the moving of a particle of matter from one end of the line to the other."

Interest in telework did not spread widely until the early 1970s, as terminal-based use of corporate and time-share mainframe computers became widespread. Portable terminals, using voice-quality telephone lines, permitted system access from any location that had telephone service. Gradually it was understood that telecommunications and data processing could be meshed into integrated systems. In the late 1970s, the French neologism term "telematique" (English: telematics) was coined by Simon Nora and Alain Minc in order to describe this growing interconnection of telecommunication and computers into one, integrated national and international system. Also, the early 1970s saw an international oil crisis, which focused critical attention on the waste of energy in private and public transport systems. The combination of technical potential and social need served as a strong stimulus for innovation. The dominant view of telework in this initial phase was the potential to save energy by substituting electronic communication for physical transportation. In 1973, Jack Nilles introduced the term "telecommuting" as the U.S. equivalent of "telework."

In 1980, Alvin Toffler incorporated the idea of telework or telecommuting into his three-phase world history, making it one of the basic elements of the emerging "Third Wave." In his book, The Third Wave, he predicted that the new information-based production system would move millions of workplaces from factories and offices back to where the workers had come from: the home.

At the organizational level, many studies have forecast radical changes to existing hierarchical institutions. In his 1979 paper, Daniel Bell refers to the change in libraries - where the world's recorded knowledge housed in buildings may become only a monument of the printed past (Bell, 1979). Wilfrid Lancaster of the University of Illinois suggested the imminent disappearance of the book, to be replaced by the year 2000 with a computer network (Lancaster, 1982).

A number of writers have speculated about the impact of telecommuting on the working community. In the early 1980s, Starr Roxanne Hiltz, put forward the concept of the "online community" which would gradually replace the physical office. According to Hiltz, these office networks can best be thought of as a new kind of social system: one in which the familiar social processes of the workplace and the organization are replaced by electronic online communities (Hiltz, 1981; Hiltz, 1984).

In the 1970s and 1980s some writers predicted that major portions of the workforce would be working from home within this century. Although many of their predictions have been scaled back from year to year, home-based telecommuting has shown rapid growth in the last few years and still is widely expected to become a significant substitute for commuting as a result of advances in technology, lower costs, recognition of productivity benefits, increasing governmental encouragement, and resolution of numerous organizational, social, and legal issues.

Telecommuting and Transportation

Telecommuting is currently of particular interest to public agencies struggling to relieve local highway congestion and meet legislative mandates for improved air quality. For them, it is an important Transportation Travel Demand Management (TDM) tool -- a strategy that reduces congestion by eliminating a trip or shifting it out of the peak period. Other such strategies include car, van and bus pools, public transit, compressed work weeks, and flextime.

Although telecommuting alone is not a solution to congestion and pollution problems, it could be important as one of several measures for addressing these problems. There is growing interest among planners, researchers, and policymakers in telecommuting as a strategy for reducing travel demand. This can be traced to several different factors:

• For public policymakers, "telecommuting is an attractive TDM strategy because it supports several agendas. It contributes to policies supporting: transportation, energy independence and conservation, improvement of air quality, employment for people with limited mobility (disabled, retired, low income, single parent), rural economic development, global competitiveness of American business, effective health care management, the American family and increased community involvement."(1)
• Telecommuting can be implemented now, as it does not require any additional planning, design, and construction lead times and it can be relatively inexpensive to implement.
• Telecommuting expands rather than restricts personal choices by offering more flexibility in workstyle and lifestyle.
• It addresses a variety of private sector concerns. For businesses, it offers the potential for improved productivity, recruitment and retention, savings in space costs, and other benefits.(2)

Telecommuting and the Public Sector

Telecommuting has found its way into a number of governmental statements and actions, especially as a transportation strategy, but also addressing other policy concerns. For example:

• At the Federal level, the Flexible Workplace Project, sponsored by the President's Council on Management Improvement, is testing the feasibility and utility of flexible workplace arrangements for Federal employees. This project, managed by the Office of Personnel Management and the General Accounting Office, is designed to facilitate the implementation of pilot programs in Federal agencies. Currently with 800 participants, this undertaking has yielded good initial results in terms of productivity and reduced sick leave.
• The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) provides funding to States and local governments to support compliance with Clean Air Act and to increase the efficiency of existing transportation facilities. Since telecommuting can lead to a reduction in the number of commuting vehicles, it is considered to be a travel demand management measure eligible for funding under the National Highway System program, the Surface Transportation Program, and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program. Eligible activities include the planning, development, and marketing of an areawide telecommuting strategy designed to improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion.
• The 1989 Air Quality Management Plan for the South Coast (California) Air Basin sets the ambitious goal of reducing work trips by 30 percent in the year 2010 through the combined impacts of telecommuting and alternative work schedules.
• Regulation XV of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) includes telecommuting on a menu of strategies large employers must use to decrease peak-period vehicle trips. Regulation XV is being widely studied and, to a certain extent, copied by other areas of the country that are out of compliance with Federal Clean Air Act standards.
• Upon the successful conclusion of the 2-year pilot project for State of California employees, legislation was passed authorizing the establishment of telecommuting programs for any state agency. Following the October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, California Governor George Deukmejian issued an Executive Order which directed state agencies to include telecommuting in their emergency response to the earthquake.
• In introducing the Statement of National Transportation Policy on March 8, 1990, President Bush said, "Sometimes the best transportation policy means not moving people, but moving their work...a trend known as telecommuting. Millions have already found their productivity actually increases when they work nearer the people they're really working for - their families at home...Think of it as commuting to work at the speed of light."
• The State of Washington has passed legislation requiring trip reduction plans to be prepared at the local level. The statute sets targets for reducing commute trip vehicle miles 15 percent by January 1, 1995; 25 percent by January 1, 1997; and 35 percent by January 1, 1999 (from a 1992 baseline). A bonus for work-at-home and alternative work schedules is built into the legislation: each commute trip reduced by these means "shall count ... as one and two-tenths vehicle trips eliminated for the purpose of meeting trip reduction goals."
• Chapter 90-291 of the Laws of Florida authorizes the implementation of telecommuting programs for state agencies, citing "many documented benefits...including less traffic congestion and the associated reduction in air pollution and energy consumption, improved employee morale and productivity, improved ability to hire additional individuals into the workforce, improved ability to recruit and retain valuable employees, and reduced costs for office and parking space."
• Commonwealth of Virginia House Joint Resolution (HJR) 77 requested the Virginia Employment Commission to prepare a report to the legislature on the feasibility of telecommuting. The resulting document recommended establishing telecommuting programs in state agencies, followed by promoting and assisting its implementation in the private sector. The report cited the potential role of telecommuting in supporting Federal-level policies such as the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1989, and state-level efforts toward rural economic development. The Virginia General Assembly responded to the report by passing HJR 339, "encouraging efforts to foster and promote telecommuting in the workplace."
• A number of other legislative initiatives are underway at Federal and state levels. Telecommuting is a recommended strategy in a variety of local and regional transportation plans, corridor studies, and trip reduction/mitigation ordinances, especially in California.(3) For example, "proposed California legislation (State Assembly Bill 374) would provide tax credit to employers implementing telecommuting programs, provided participants telecommute three or more days per week."(4)

DRIVING FORCES

Telecommuting is merely one expression of a variety of fundamental changes occurring in U.S. society. The adoption of telecommuting is shaped by technical, economic, environmental, legal, social, and demographic factors and trends. These indicators of telecommuting potential suggest both the limits and the possibilities of telecommuting activity. While influenced by many factors, it has risen in prominence primarily through the convergence of trends and developments in the following areas:

• Telecommunications and Information Technology
• The Nature of Work
• The Workers
• The Workplace
• Urban Highway Congestion and Its Consequences
• Environmental Legislation

Telecommunications and Information Technology

The rapid development of telecommunications and information technology during the latter part of this century has transformed many aspects of life. Live television images of events occurring anywhere on earth have affected our perceptions of ourselves, our society, and our world. In the 19th century, the telegraph, soon followed by telephone and then radio, introduced the concept of substituting telecommunications for transportation of mail and other messages. As computer technology has more and more packaged information in digital electronic form, telecommunications advances permit the convenient transmission of that information anywhere in the world almost instantaneously. One minor result of that revolution is that people whose work deals primarily with information may be able to work wherever they can "keep in touch" via telecommunications. While the revolution is far from complete, these technologies have already come to play a significant role in most business activities and in many homes.

The telecommunications environment for telecommuting will be significantly affected by the Clinton Administration's stated goal of encouraging investment in the national information infrastructure. The President's recently-announced technology policy specifically notes the importance to the U.S. economy of developing a broadband, interactive telecommunications network -- an "information superhighway" -- linking the nation's businesses, schools, libraries, hospitals, governments, and other users. Funding is planned for the Department of Commerce to make grants to States, local governments, universities, school systems and other non-profit organizations to "jumpstart, the development of information networks.

The Nature of Work

A national economy that was once based on agriculture and then manufacturing is now dominated by service industries. Almost all business activity, including agriculture and manufacturing, is permeated by the creation, use, and distribution of information. As a result, more than half of the national workforce can be described as information workers, and many others spend significant portions of their time with "paperwork" and its modern electronic equivalents. Indeed, more and more of the documents and data that underlie business activities exist first and foremost as computer files, easily transmitted wherever they might be needed. The technology advances described above have made possible a high degree of geographic decentralization of work, characterized by an almost continual flow of telephone conversations, faxes, and overnight express packages on a national and international scale. Customers, colleagues, and suppliers are increasingly likely to be physically distant, linked by modern telecommunications and other services. One result of these changes is that more and more of the work to be done is of a type that can be performed in places where even modest telecommunications capabilities exist.

The Workers

As business has become more information-based, workers have found themselves spending more of their time interacting with computers and other information technologies. A substantial portion of the workforce is now relatively comfortable with these technologies, even in the home. It is estimated that in the United States about 57.6 million workers (45 percent of the labor force) are potential telecommuters. No longer is the computer programmer the only employee spending long hours at a keyboard in front of a screen. But other, more important changes have also been occurring. Quality of life, at home and at work, has become more and more of a national concern, in part a result of the complexities of modern living. The size, shape, and nature of American families are changing; the number of two-parent families continues to decrease. For single-parent homes and families with both parents employed (there is a growing number of women in the workplace), child-care issues can greatly complicate daily schedules. Finding a satisfactory home at an affordable price may force a long and sometimes stressful daily commute, leaving little time for family or other leisure activities. In fact, many people are either unwilling or unable to relocate to where jobs are available.

Further, the image of the normal worklife as 40 years in the same job followed by a gold watch, however inaccurate originally, is gone. A change in values has occurred regarding work and leisure time. This, together with mobility, changing occupations, and family characteristics is changing the workplace. Most workers consider themselves mobile and expect periodic change in employers -- as likely through mergers, corporate relocations or bankruptcies as through their own volition. The best employees can be retained only by providing a good working environment.

One of the important results of these disparate trends is the importance that workers place on flexibility in their worklife, and the impact this consideration has in their accepting and staying in a particular job. The gradual introduction of various forms of flexible working hours has been a universally popular employee benefit. Another recent theme has been the importance of employee empowerment, recognized by the business community as a key element of high productivity and morale, and by the worker as central to job satisfaction and stress reduction.

The Workplace

The global nature of the modern economy has brought with it an intense wave of competition for all businesses, making increased productivity a prime objective. The business world has come to realize the importance of maximizing not just the output of workers, but also their creativity and the level of quality and customer service in their work. Retention of experienced staff is also a necessity in gaining high overall productivity. One of the most effective ways of achieving these results is to respond to the workers' desire for flexibility and empowerment in the workplace. Many full-time employees currently work flexible schedules or compressed work weeks; flex-staffing or lean-staffing is considered a responsible business approach when an organization needs to expand or limit its operations. Rethinking management styles, redesigning the work elements, and even adopting new corporate cultures is a difficult and lengthy process and not always successful. However, it is increasingly recognized as a part of doing business in the 1990s and beyond.

Urban Highway Congestion and Its Consequences

America has always led the world in its use of the private automobile for transportation, and has developed an unmatched infrastructure of streets and highways. It is a mode of travel that maximizes convenience and privacy, but it has its limits. Many urban regions of the country are experiencing rising peak-hour congestion. The daily commute is, for many workers, the most disagreeable part of their day. In addition to the delays and stress this imposes on commuters and others on the highways, emissions from these vehicles result in poor air quality for the entire region, highway accidents are a recurring event which worsens the congestion, and a substantial amount of petroleum-based energy is consumed.

Environmental Legislation

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) reflect a commitment by the American people to achieve higher levels of air quality, particularly in the more heavily polluted urban regions. Deadlines are set for reduction of pollution in over 100 major cities, which in some cases may require actually reducing auto travel. In some localities, employer trip reduction programs will place part of the burden of improving air quality on businesses in the area. The severe challenge of achieving clean air goals forces close consideration of every possible means, since it is clear that no single measure, such as tighter emission controls, reformulated gasoline, improved transit or high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, can do the job by itself. The CAAA is a major motivation for public sector interest in telecommuting in many areas.

The Convergence of Driving Forces

In summary, many of the jobs now being performed are such that with little or no restructuring they could be performed at home at least 1 or 2 days per week. Employees are ready for, and even demanding, more responsibility for themselves and more flexibility in their lives. Technology already available makes it possible for at least some portion of many jobs to be performed anytime, anyplace. Businesses are seeking means to increase productivity and improve staff retention. Congestion worsens and the deadlines for air quality improvement grow near. Greater national attention is being given to energy conservation with particular emphasis on petroleum-based sources.

It is not surprising, therefore, that there is a steady rise in telecommuting with an even more rapid growth of interest in the topic by individuals, businesses, and governments. Telecommuting is not the answer for every worker. Many factors bear on its practicality, benefits, and overall attractiveness in any given situation. However, it is clearly a phenomenon which will be of growing importance to the way America works and to urban transportation. The degree to which telecommuting is likely to be adopted and the benefits which might be obtained thereby are examined in the remainder of this report.

TELEWORK - A TELETAXONOMY

What is Telecommuting?

The term telecommuting is attributed to Jack M. Nilles who first used it in 1973. He defines telecommuting as a subset of teleworking (i.e., all work-related substitutions of telecommunications and related information technologies for travel). Telecommuting is not a technology or collection of technologies. Rather, it is a work option that reduces dependence on transportation by exploiting information and telecommunications technologies. In many cases, telecommuting can be accomplished with equipment no more exotic than a telephone. However, it is likely that most telecommuters in the near future will be using microcomputers and modems as major work tools; and for some workers relatively elaborate and sophisticated equipment and services may be the norm. In most cases, workers telecommute only a portion of the time, often as little as 1 or 2 days per week. Telecommuting does not require the active use of telecommunications technology in order to be practical, since workers can carry their information with them when they travel to their employer's office. Nevertheless, telecommunications and computer technologies both greatly broaden the scope and variety of tasks amenable to telecommuting.

In this report the term "telecommuting" will generally be used to refer to company employees in any occupational group working part- or full-time during normal business hours, for whom the commute is eliminated, shifted out of the rush-hour period, or shortened through the performance of the work role at home or at an alternative remote location, and who communicate with the usual place of work using electronic or other means instead of traveling there.

This definition excludes several categories of telework-based substitutions for transportation, some of which could also have significant impacts on transportation:

• Self-employed, home-based workers, private consultants, contract workers;
• Overtime work performed at home;
• Field workers who travel in the course of work;
• Other forms of telework such as teleconferencing, etc.; and
• Geographical or functional decentralization of businesses.

Telecommuting Frequency, Locations and Forms

Full-time / Part-time

In the popular press, telecommuting is often described as full-time home-based work where the worker is almost never in the office. However, current experience, supported by the findings and views of leading experts, suggests that most home-based telecommuting is only partial with time split between home and company offices, including creative scheduling of clusters of meetings for the office, and solo work for home as shown in Figure 2. Over half of all telecommuters work at home 1-3 days per week; the average total time worked at home is 18.6 hours per week. Of the 1991 total, 79 percent of all telecommuters worked part-time (less than 35 hours per week) at home Monday through Friday. About 26 percent worked at home less than 8 hours per week. This profile could change eventually, but appears likely to characterize telecommuting for the next 5 to 10 years.

Locations

There are a number of feasible alternative work arrangements that provide some flexibility in the locational and temporal definition of work. They differ in scope and structure: some require a major reorganization of a number of jobs and people, while others, such as the home-based form, can be implemented on an individual basis depending on the situation. Current telecommuting is predominantly home-based, but many observers see telework centers as playing a much larger role in the future.

Home-Based

In home-based telecommuting, the employee works at home, keeping in touch with the main office by telephone or other telecommunications technologies. It is anticipated that most home-based telecommuters will work at home part-time (1-3 days per week) spending the rest of their work time in the main office or at other facilities. However, some people could be at home virtually full-time. The original sole site of telework was Alvin Toffler's electronic cottage or, under the opposing paradigm, the `electronic sweatshop' (the home, pure and simple, and full time or close to it). This option is heavily dependent on remote supervision. It does not provide the social interaction that a work center offers. On the other hand, work at home can give employees extreme flexibility in schedule and life style. Child care may be accommodated more easily; for many people with primary child care responsibility work-at-home may be the only employment option. It also offers employment opportunities to the elderly and handicapped. Work-at-home can easily be used as an option on an individual basis to accommodate a particular situation or need either temporarily or permanently.

Regional Centers

An important alternative form of telecommuting consists of working not at home but rather at a special-purpose telework center located relatively close to home. As usually conceived, the centers are equipped with sufficient office automation and communications facilities that they can serve as true extensions of the normal workplace. This approach is particularly attractive for workers who have long commutes. While telework centers do not eliminate travel, they can substantially reduce it. Centers are best located in uncongested areas or near public transit. These centers can take a variety of forms such as the satellite center, regional/local center, and neighborhood center. Their financial feasibility in various circumstances remains to be determined. There is also the possibility that regional center telecommuters may move even further away from their place of work when they are no longer commuting to the central business district, thereby negating many of the quantifiable benefits of telecommuting. Further, if they are not convenient to public transit they could increase total automobile trips.

There are three basic variants of the telework center concept: satellite, local or regional centers, and neighborhood centers. For all of these, the common criterion is that they are close to where the telecommuters live, and the telecommuters work there instead of or in addition to working at home.

Satellite Centers

Satellite centers are facilities established by an organization to serve its telecommuting staff. Note that some of the staff may still have to commute several miles to get to the center as contrasted with travelling tens of miles otherwise.

There has been some confusion as to what constitutes a satellite office. Mokhtarian sees a critical need to include in the definition of telecommuting part-time travel to closer-to-home satellite centers, given the political reality that definitions drive whether large employers are "given credit" under air quality trip reduction ordinances. Guidelines submitted by the Los Angeles based Telecommuting Advisory Council (TAC) to the South Coast Air Quality Management District for determining whether a situation is a telecommuting center are as follows:

· It is part of a monitored Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program.

?· The Center is closer to employee's home than central work site.

?· Activity must be linked to central office work, results transmitted to central office.

· Employees must be from different companies or different units of same company.

?· Employees may be at center full or part time, regularly, or occasionally.

?· Supervisors' presence or absence not a criterion.

?· No separate employee count or average vehicle ridership is required for the center (except for any nontelecommuting staff stationed there).

Mokhtarian suggests two additional guidelines: location independence (the work can be done anywhere) and organizational structure (absence of a regular self-contained pyramid).

Local Centers

Local center facilities house any number of telecommuters from different organizations. Employees would share space and equipment in the work center closest to their homes. Thus, densely populated areas could have centers financially supported by all of the organizations whose employees use them. Such an option is complicated to implement on a large scale because it requires a great deal of cooperation among different organizations. The state of Hawaii is currently experimenting with a local center, as did Sweden in the mid 1980s.

Neighborhood Centers

Another variation is the neighborhood center: "minicenters," existing in large numbers, each serving a relatively small number of workers and located within walking distance of their residences.

Jobs with Telecommuting Potential

The most visible classes of work performed by full-time telecommuters are knowledge functions, sales, and marketing. The "knowledge function" or "information worker" category includes reading, writing, customer service, research (in books, databases or by telephone, along with analytic functions of many sorts, while sales functions would comprise calling, planning, and record keeping. Large-scale telemarketing (as opposed to order taking) is most often performed from "boiler rooms" and not homes, both in order to make the most intensive use of the voice-over data lines and to maximize motivation.(5) Parts of many jobs, the totality of which cannot be removed from their normal setting, can be isolated successfully in space and time and performed elsewhere.

LINK Resources conducts a yearly national survey from a random sample of 2,500 households, addressing work-at-home topics. This survey provided the data for all charts in this section characterizing telecommuting and telecommuters. The LINK statistics on Leading Telecommuting Occupations show a very high proportion of telecommuters to be in professions, with only 1 percent listed as clerical workers. Sales and professional specialty occupations constitute the leading telecommuter occupations. The list in Table 1 is not exhaustive but suggests the broad range of jobs that could be suited to telecommuting:

Table 1. Information Worker Jobs

accountant actuary administrative assistant advertising executive agent analyst architect appraiser artist (commercial) auditor bankers bookkeeper

broker CEO clerk/clerk typist consultant contract monitor computer scientist data entry clerk data search specialist economist employment engineer interviewer financial analyst

graphic artist journalist industrial engineer lawyer manager market analyst professor/teacher programmer purchaser receptionist (sending / receiving electronic mail) realtor researcher

school administrator software engineer statistician stock analyst stockbroker surveyor systems analyst telemarketer telephone operator training designer word processor writer

Figure 3 categorizes these jobs and presents approximations of the percentages of teleworkers in each category. Certain job characteristics across all job types are suitable to telecommuting:

Minimum physical requirements;

Individual control over work pace;

Defined deliverables;

Need for concentration;

Defined milestones; and

Relatively low need for face-to-face communications.

Telecommuter characteristics suitable to telecommuting include: Self-motivation, Self-discipline, Specialized skills, and Ability to work independently.

Note that characteristics of the successful teleworker and job characteristics are relatively independent of the technology involved.(6)

Industry/Company Demographics

Telecommuting Industries

Business Services, Retailing/Wholesaling, and Banking/Finance stand out as the leading industries. Manufacturing, Telecommunications, and Healthcare also rank high in this regard for telecommuting as shown in Figure 4.

Company Size

Since approximately half of the U.S. workforce work for companies with less than 500 employees, it is no surprise that the majority of telecommuters are associated with smaller companies. As shown in Figure 5, only 4 percent of telecommuters (45 percent of the labor force) work for companies with more than 1,000 employees, while 77 percent are employed by organizations with under 100 employees. Telecommuting in the United States has grown primarily from the bottom up, through individual innovation rather than from the top down, through large-scale organizational innovation.(7) Large, full-time, formal telecommuting programs operated by large well known companies are in the minority. Most telecommuting is strongly associated with smaller companies and organizations for the following reasons:

• Organizational culture is less formal in smaller organizations than in larger ones.
• Innovation is easier and more common in smaller organizations.
• Standard operating procedures are less rigid in smaller organizations.
• Staff flexibility is likely to be equally useful for the company as for the employee in small companies.

Formal/Informal Telecommuting

Formal versus informal Telecommuting is illustrated in Figure 6. The LINK Resources survey indicates that:

• 21 percent of all medium / large businesses (100+ employees) support some level of informal telecommuting. This covers 470,000 telecommuters.
• 14 percent of all medium / large businesses (100+ employees) support some level of formal telecommuting. This covers 240,000 telecommuters.
• 65 percent do not support any telecommuting.

Table 2. Formal / Informal Telecommuting

	Formal			Informal
	# Telecommuters	% of Companies Using	# Companies	# Telecommuters	% of Companies Using
Small	2.9 million (92%)	13%	819,000 (98%)	1.9 million
Medium / Large	240,000 (8%)	14%	17,200 (2%)	470,000	21%
Total	3.1 million		836,200	2.4 million

LINK's data listed in Table 2, shows that telecommuting is growing rapidly among large organizations with over 1,000 employees and small organizations with under 10 employees. Informal telecommuting programs are easy to start and stop, especially if the proponent for telecommuting within the organization leaves.

Technology Used by Telecommuters

Figure 7 shows the technologies used by telecommuters. Personal Computers (PCs) are owned by 36 percent of telecommuter households, over twice the average for U.S. households. Other tools include:

• Telephone Answering Machine - 70.4 percent (3.59 million)
• Modems - 16.2 percent (.83 million)
• Fax Machine - 7.4 percent (.38 million)

The one thing that almost all (95 percent or more) telecommuters rely on is basic residential telephone service; 26 percent use more than one phone line; 46 percent of telecommuters are reimbursed by their employer for long distance phone calls. The use of multiple phone lines and other telephone services and devices has accelerated much faster among telecommuters than in the overall labor force.

SCOPE AND NATURE OF CURRENT TELECOMMUTING

The 1992 LINK resources survey estimates the number of conventional employees currently telecommuting at 4.2 million, up 27 percent from 3.3 million in 1991. Sampling error for the survey is reported to be plus or minus 9 percent.(8) This figure represents 3.3 percent of the total U.S. workforce. However, LINK further estimates that 1.8 million of those employees are working at home on contract or on self-employment activities rather than as part of their basic job. This leaves 2.4 million people telecommuting as part of their regular work. Based on prior LINK surveys, this has grown from .4 million in 1990 and 1.4 million in 1991.

A second estimate of potential telecommuters, provided by Jack Nilles, is based on a 1985-1986 survey, using the Blackman version of the technological substitution curve (Linstone and Sahal (eds.), 1976). This estimate predicts between 2.0 million (nominal case) and 4.4 million (high acceptance case) telecommuters in 1992 increasing to between 15.0 and 30.4 million in 2002.

Telecommuter Demographics

Figures 8 and 9 illustrate the 1991 data compiled by LINK Research's National Work-at-home Survey which show a fairly even distribution of men (53 percent) and women (47 percent). The typical telecommuter is between the ages of 35-37, and 76 percent are part of a dual career household, with a median income of 40K. About half have children under 18 at home, and just under one-fourth have children under 6 years old.

Telecommuting Arrangements

Telecommuting is increasingly accepted by employers, often on an informal "off-the-books" basis, to enable continued workforce contributions in a range of personal circumstances necessitating temporary part- or full-time absence from work. These temporary and transitional applications include maternity leave, temporary care of children or elderly parents, injuries and illnesses, temporary relocations, and phased retirements. While increasingly accepted, these are basically seen as concessions to valued and privileged professional staff. More permanent programs are centered around sales, telemarketing, customer service, and data/forms entry staff.

For employers, telecommuting arrangements are also found helpful to make at least partial use of personnel away at special training and education activities, and to fill needs for peak part time and seasonal work. Also many companies are encouraging telecommuting as one aspect of the adoption by senior staff and executives of high tech/high performance workstyle.

Physically Challenged

Telecommuting would seem to be a natural approach to increasing employment possibilities for disabled or functionally challenged individuals. However, there is relatively little discussion of this topic in the literature. Only small numbers of handicapped persons seem to be employed, despite government programs designed to promote activity. LINK Resources' case studies mention some instances of handicapped workers, but it appears that many of these initiatives have been phased out. The literature mentions placement programs for disabled workers, many of which showed good results.(9) On the other hand, there are also reports of cases of disabled workers who found long hours at a terminal very difficult physically and socially isolating.(10) Many of the efforts for the disabled were discontinued in funding cuts that were due in part to the current preference of vocational rehabilitation specialists for mainstreaming. Huws et al. suggest that disabled workers need sociability as much as income and indicate that satellite or neighborhood centers would be more appropriate venues than homework.(11)

Control Data Corporation ran a very productive program for disabled workers in which the only major problem stemmed from inexperienced or otherwise inadequate managers. A state of California project involving approximately 150 mostly professional level workers, which included mentally disabled workers, did find that telecommuting reduced commuting stress for these workers.

OTHER RELATED TELESUBSTITUTION

Incarcerated Workers

Prison populations are becoming a regular element of certain telework schemes. Inmates at Arizona correctional facilities are employed as reservation agents for Best Western. They receive the same wages and benefits as non-prison workers and part of their pay goes to victim restitution as well as part to the state to pay for room and board. This can also be a valuable job training tool, as the company has hired 50 women after their release.(12) In an arrangement with the California Youth Authority, TWA routes calls from around the country to Camarillo, California, and provides training and geography classes to the students. Their compensation is the same as agents in TWA's Los Angeles office.

Teletransactions

Teletransactions include the many instances where orders are placed within and between businesses (or between individuals and companies, as in computerized stock trading) by computers over private networks or public telephone lines or, as in telebanking, by means of touchtone lines. As money and stocks are basically "moved" electronically, consumer transactions are also transformed. Teleinvesting combines access via personnel computer to stock quotation services with computerized order placement. The faxed transaction, whether used to settle insurance claims, provide documents, or buy lunch, is a more and more common replacement for mail, phone calls, or personal delivery of documents, depending on the time and space constraints of the particular transaction. "Teletaxes," a subspecies of teletransactions, were quickly democratized as microcomputers and modems entered the home and small office, a situation mutually advantageous to the IRS and the taxpayer as data entry is shifted out of the IRS and the taxpayer gets a speedier refund check.

Other Telesubstitutions

In addition to telecommuting, a growing number of situations are occurring in which telecommunications are substituted for in-person acquisition or performance of services. In the near term they are not likely to have a strong impact on transportation, but the cumulative effect could eventually be significant -- it could affect transportation directly, and also indirectly through its impact on land use, which affects public transportation. Moreover, increasing public acceptance of services that generate a broader market for sophisticated telecommunications services will contribute to the availability of these services for telecommuting. These other telesubstitutions include:

• Teleeducation
• Teleshopping
• Telebanking
• Telemedicine
• Telejustice
• Teletaxes
• Televoting

Teleeducation; Telelearning

Teleeducation, or distance learning, involves the use of satellite, microwave or cable television systems to transmit classroom instructions to one or more remote locations (classrooms, homes, etc.). This could involve receipt of assignments and exams, submission of homework via screen or computer keyboard, access to electronic libraries, face-to-face counselling, and even participation in class discussions. Teleeducation minimizes commuting by students and professors and can serve students in remote locations and those physically unable to appear on campus. More modestly, efforts have been reported in congested areas like New York to replace some class meetings and in person conferences with telephone conferences and video presentations. Elements of teleeducation have entered the university generally as students increasingly collect and submit assignments and search library catalogues and databases from their home computers.

Teleshopping

Teleshopping is the use of computer or television-based services to purchase a full range of goods, including food, fashion goods, housewares, gift items, etc. Consumers view goods, have products delivered, make payment by direct debit or credit card, etc. While typically performed using television receiver and telephone, it could be accomplished in a direct interactive mode. Teleshopping is quite different from the premall variety of calling up the local grocer to deliver an order. It is typically a long-distance, 24-hour activity. Home shopping services using television and 800 numbers have penetrated certain parts of the market. Extensive computer shopping networks that allow price comparisons of electronics, appliances and other major goods have achieved limited market penetration so far, but that penetration is among an affluent and influential market segment. Local teleshopping services for supermarket staples are becoming common in Europe but have not become usual here -- these are variations of catalogue ordering services.

Telebanking

Telebanking involves the use of a computer and modem and/or touch-tone phone to perform financial transactions such as making direct electronic deposits, obtaining instant access to balance, electronic checkbook balancing, obtaining automated financial services, etc. Telebanking is now seriously supplementing the automated teller machine, and certain of these functions are now offered automatically by many banks. Transfer of funds between accounts, bill payment, and account information are now available as totally automated functions from touch-tone phones to ATM card holders, and other information and loan qualification services are partially teleautomated, with touch-tone routing to the human-provided portions of these services.

Telemedicine and Telediagnosis

Examples of telecommunications substitution include: medical consultation and monitoring; telemetric devices that monitor heart rate and other vital signs, and transmit the patient's information to a doctor at another location; direct transmission of data to the medical computer for automatic analysis; sophisticated imaging (MRI, CAT, x-ray) transmittable over phone line or from emergency vehicles via cellular radio; and face-to-face counselling from the doctor at a remote location. Doctors and other health care professionals can gain instant access to patients' medical histories and visual records, simultaneously viewing information on screen and discussing it.

Telejustice

Depositions and arraignments can be handled through video conferencing links between the courthouse and prison, thus avoiding the need to transfer prisoners.

Televoting

Tele-voting in the sense of casting a ballot for a candidate for office has not yet become a political reality. For years, however, cable television and talk radio stations have used push-button calling to do extensive electronic polling on every conceivable subject to directly ascertain popular agreement or disagreement with government policies.

Bulletin Board Services

Computer bulletin boards have been characterized as "the 1990s answer to those mythical general stores of a century ago where you could find a congenial group of people gabbing around a blazing wood stove."(13) Some 44,000 public bulletin boards serve functions as diverse as publishing fiction and matchmaking. Many families are already using online computer services at home like CompuServe, formed in 1969, which now has more than a million users. Prodigy, a partnership of IBM and Sears, has 1.75 million subscribers who can shop, bank, make travel reservations, get stock market quotes, get updates on news, weather, sports and much more without leaving their homes.

Information/Entertainment

Examples of news/information services include the sale of news wire, stock information, databases, etc., as well as general or specialty news content. Entertainment services include pay-per-view movies, special sports programs, cultural events, pay-per-listen radios, and video games. Many special information services are available: opinion or market research surveys, association proceedings and records, minutes from club meetings, etc.

TELECOMMUTING DEMONSTRATIONS

Examples of Existing Programs

Worldwide, telecommuting programs may be found in the public and private sectors. At least hundreds of organizations have tried or currently possess telecommuting programs. A selected number of examples have been presented to give a flavor of the range and type of existing programs. Details regarding the kinds of jobs and workers best suited to telecommuting, tradeoffs for employers and employees, and other aspects of telecommuting which have been learned from these and other demonstrations, are also discussed.

Appendix C contains basic descriptions of telecommuting projects. These pilot projects or programs represent a sample and cross-section of U.S. organizations with employees who telecommute one or more days per week. The selected projects (one a pilot program which has since ceased) represent only a small portion of telecommuting demonstrations and programs. The projects were included based on their different aspects (as defined below) and the availability of published information concerning the project or the provision of information from project advocates. Great care must be used in interpreting the results of these and similar projects, since they are typically limited in size, duration, and nature, and involve carefully selected groups of employees.

The material presented in the appendix represents public- and private-sector telecommuting projects. Government plays a dual role by creating telecommuting options for Federal-, state- and county-level employees, as well as fostering the concept in the private sector (see Puget Sound and California-based projects). Telecommuting, while often conceived and implemented by individual businesses, is also fostered by state governments seeking to reduce transportation problems, create new business and economic opportunities, or simply offer employees greater flexibility in managing daily schedules. For example, the Washington State Energy Office (WSEO) is working with other state government offices and private businesses to establish telecommuting opportunities for state and commercial employees as a means of reducing energy consumption and vehicular congestion on Seattle's highways. For information on traffic congestion, management, and planning, see projects based in California and Oregon.

The telecommuting pilots and programs described in Appendix C were formally implemented. In most cases, participants consist of information workers, such as managers, administrators, and customer service representatives, who perform much of their work using telephone communications or computer systems personnel involved in programming, systems management, or other forms of data processing. Participants were volunteers, thoroughly screened and approved by management for participation.

One of the richest sources of actual data on telecommuting is the California Telecommuting Pilot Project, which ran from July 1977, to June 1990. Actual telecommuting and travel behavior of over 150 state employees was monitored for two years, beginning in January, 1989. Many of the preliminary conclusions in this report concerning telecommuting and its travel impacts were derived from analyses associated with this project.

Allowing employees to work at home or at neighborhood satellite operations, such as telework centers, are two basic options for telecommuters. WSEO established a telework center in Seattle where employees from various state offices could conduct business one or more days each week (see Washington State Telework Center). Other telework centers, providing an office environment, technological tools, and support, are being implemented in California (see Los Angeles County Telecommuting Project), Kentucky, and New York City.

The reasons organizations pursue telecommuting vary. Sears instituted telecommuting to retain valued employees following a relocation of the work place. Some programs were implemented to reduce employees' costs in terms of fuel, time, and stress, while also decreasing the number of employees in crowded facilities. Other projects were implemented and maintained because telecommuting increased productivity and profitability.

All the telecommuting projects sampled indicate qualitative improvements in employee work and home life. Productivity gains have also been studied and documented (see Sears "Over the Rainbow" and the Los Angeles County Telecommuting projects), as well as other benefits such as decreased sick leave and absenteeism. In most cases, determination of the level of productivity gains and other benefits to employers has been based on subjective surveys of employee opinion.

Implementation / Practical Telecommuting

Effective implementation of a telecommuting program involves more than just providing equipment and expecting benefits. Implementation can be a complex process requiring careful management to succeed. There are many practical and management considerations in implementing a telecommuting program, including planning, selecting jobs, selecting and training employees and managers, linking telecommuters to the office, liability concerns, and technical details. In the past, many such programs have failed because of inadequate planning and/or poor management.

Telecommuting pilot programs have enabled organizations to assess the economic reality of telecommuting, to determine the benefits that can be expected from participants, and to review manager-employee interaction. The results of such projects have eased concerns by showing that potential problems can be addressed satisfactorily with proper planning. Pilot projects have shown that:

• Labor concerns can be allayed by ensuring participation early on.
• Effective management can be maintained.
• Security risks need not be any greater than those on-site.
• Insurance issues can be handled through telecommuting agreements.
• Telecommuting need not affect a worker's employment status.

Chapter 2 - Factors Affecting the Future Degree and Impacts of Telecommuting

INTRODUCTION

The objective of this chapter is to identify and assess issues which will determine the level of adoption of telecommuting. As with the introduction of any broad societal innovation, there are a variety of potential barriers to implementation. These barriers can be technological, institutional, legal, or societal in nature. This chapter outlines the major factors affecting implementation of telecommuting. Specific emphasis will be placed on topics that appear to be the greatest impediments, involve a government role, and are least understood.

Whether an individual telecommutes and how often are results of the decisions of employer and employee, made within the constraints of the existing technical and legal environment. Many separate and often complex considerations can affect these decisions, making estimation of the future level of telecommuting an uncertain task at best. Many projections in the technical as well as popular literature are based on relatively arbitrary assumptions that the workforce can be divided into "information workers" and all others, and that some percentage of the information workers will telecommute. Since telecommuting is still at an early stage, with no large-scale, long-term experiences to draw on, it is difficult to go beyond this very approximate approach. However, explicit consideration of the principal factors bearing on employer and employee decisions is necessary if the assumptions are to be reasonable and credible.

The definition of "information worker" -- someone who is primarily concerned with the creation, distribution and use of information -- is very broad, covering a great variety of activities. The implied notion that telecommuting is not relevant to people who operate equipment (truck driver, farmer, autoworker) or interact constantly with other people (salesperson, receptionist, doctor) is a reasonable starting point, supported by the fact that estimates exist for the number of information workers -- generally assumed to be somewhat more than half of the working population.

However, the limitations of this assumption should be kept in mind. Many jobs, whether or not they are classed as information-related, are a mix of various attributes, which may be quite separable. Telecommuting is not an all-or-nothing activity. It can easily be practiced only 1 day per week or less, and therefore, may be well suited to dealing with accumulated paperwork, writing reports, reading, planning, and thinking, regardless of the basic nature of the job. On the other hand, some "information" jobs may be so closely integrated with other activities and people that telecommuting is not a viable option.

The more critical question, often overlooked in the popular literature, is the frequency of telecommuting. It is not uncommon for writers on the subject to assume full-time telecommuting, whereas current experience suggests an average of between 1 and 2 days per week at home for most telecommuters. Hence, estimates of the impact on transportation of telecommuting can vary widely.

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the factors that bear on the telecommuting decisions of employers and employees and the degree to which technical and legal barriers may impede telecommuting. With this foundation, a baseline estimate is developed of the near-term degree of telecommuting. This baseline also assesses the timeframe in which the projected level might be achieved by taking into account typical rates of adoption of technical and managerial innovations.

PERSPECTIVES ON TELECOMMUTING

The future will not simply be determined by information technology and its potential for transforming the nature and location of information processing work. The technology is a tool with many possible applications. And these applications will, in turn, only be adopted and implemented by individuals and organizations which can see how to facilitate the achievement of their own current aims. Telework will be adopted only by those managers who see it as a solution to their problems and workers who see it as a solution to their needs.(14)

An understanding of the potential advantages and disadvantages for employers and employees is critical to the credibility of estimates of the number of telecommuters. The principal advantages, disadvantages, concerns, and issues associated with telecommuting, from a variety of perspectives, are summarized in Table 3.

Telecommuting provides compelling economic and family benefits to both employers and employees. Experience with telecommuting projects confirms the benefits that telecommuting brings to employer, employee, and society.

Table 3. Perspectives of Telecommuting

From the point of view of the:
Employer	Advantages	Increased productivity Reduced facility space and expenses Labor economies, possibly via lower pay, benefits for workers Difficult shifts covered Retention of valued employees and access to wider (even multinational) labor pool; reduced retraining Lower sick leave utilization; reduced health care costs Telework can be used as a casual pool to protect against downswings in demand Savings in relocation expenses Off-hour utilization of mainframe computers Savings on shiftwork, overtime Improved motivation of employees
	Disadvantages	Change in basic organizational practices required Competition from offshore and out-of-market labor Possible increase the need for computer resources
	Issues/Concerns	Decreased productivity Loss of corporate culture, deterioration of office environment quality Trust and control of employees, including how to monitor Worker accessibility Lack of organizational experience in remote supervision and management by objectives Union opposition / organized labor concerns Security, confidentiality of property and ideas Insurance issues Health and safety issues
Employee	Advantages	Reduction or avoidance of commuting time, expense (gas, transit fees, depreciation), travel stress Cost savings on wardrobe, parking costs, meals Proximity to family and community Autonomy and control over work conditions, schedules Relaxation of time-space constraints of formal workplace Improved quality of life
	Disadvantages	Speedups and/or electronic monitoring in some cases Forced subcontracting Lack of support
	Issues/Concerns	Exacerbation of existing family problems Isolation from colleagues Tendency to overwork Pressure to work harder to justify telecommuting Career sidetracking Possible lower wages, benefit losses Widening of money and autonomy gaps between sexes and classes of workers

Table 3, continued - Perspectives of Telecommuting

From the point of view of the:
Transportation Planner	Advantages	Reduced total and peak hour vehicle miles travelled, energy consumption Leveling out of peak hour transit use Reduced infrastructure maintenance; need for expansion Possible mitigation of land use pressures Mitigation of congestion and air pollution Reduced traffic accidents and attendant economic and social costs Possibly decreased local infrastructure maintenance Possible positive mode change effects from - e.g., walking, biking for errands
	Disadvantages	* Not under the direct control of public agencies
	Issues/Concerns	Uncertainty as to the magnitude of transportation benefits Uncertainty as to whether congestion will actually be reduced Unknown impact on car and van pooling and transit use Possible residential relocation farther out
Telecommunications Industry	Advantages	* Enhanced demand for telecommunications products and services
	Disadvantages
	Issues/Concerns	Increased pressures on capacity and capability of existing networks Multinational opportunities and connectivity, political problems Extent of government interest, infrastructure ass