Studies about People who Work from Home

People who work from home are often followers rather than leaders. People who work at home should instead of just following others also become innovators.

In other words, people who work at home are encouraged to begin innovating and designing new ways of working. Why is this so important?

It is because survey evidence has indicated a widespread interest among employees in working at home. Therefore, there needs to be different ways of helping people become more productive while they work at home.

Further Notes

Evidence is mixed on whether telecommuting on average has improved either productivity or morale. Quite a few opinions are given about this.

In any case, here is an interest fact for you. Just about one-fifth of the people in the United States already have telecommuted on a part-time or full-time basis. Other estimates suggest that about two-thirds of all jobs could possibly be open for telecommute.

Some Statistics

Regarding people who work from home, some interesting statistics have been published. These are based on a May 2001 Current Population Survey based on a sample of over 8,000 workers. The numbers that stand out the most is shown below:

A positive wage differiential according to one table was 9 cents per hour for women and 13 cents per hour for men has been earned.
633 women and 621 men surveyed reported performing some type of work at home.
Sometimes remote workers earned a higher wage if they were not explicitly compensated.
It was learned that working at home has certain advantages as far as not getting distracted. Two examples of this would be not having to deal with office gossip and unnecessary meetings.
Employees who work at home have a tendency to work longer hours, so it has been reported.
The absenteeism rate is usually lower among people who work at home. This is probably because they do not have to drive to work to get there.
Men who worked at home about once a week via a formal agreement earned about 11 more per hour than women of the same.
Men who worked at home about once a month though for some reason earned 23 cents more per hour via working according to a formal agreement.
At one time (sometime before the year 2000) it was estimated that about once every 11 seconds someone starts a home business.
The estimation is that about 34% of households would have a home business by 2002.
As of the early 2000s, it was estimated that the annual revenue for all people as a collective who work from home is about $427 Billion.
About 70% of home workers last over three years. This is a much higher success rate than that of other business start-ups.
For people who do not work from home, they spend (as of maybe beginning of the millennium or so) about $1.22 for every dollar.
About 40 to 44% of home businesses cost less than $5,000 to start up.