Working from home is increasingly common in Virginia according to a new study. Roughly a quarter of a million people telecommute -- up 43% since 2010.
The Internet and cell phones are nothing new, but employers are finally beginning to see how easy those technologies make it for people to work from home.
“A lot of people do that indirectly – you know, checking e-mail from home,” says Hamilton Lombard, a researcher at UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
“Most studies have shown there’s not really any loss of productivity. In theory you might be able to save some money if you’re able to consolidate office space.”
And, frankly, unemployment is so low that some companies are doing whatever they can to attract good people. Lombard says telecommuting is especially common in certain fields.
“I think with management consulting, about a quarter of all workers primarily work at home. IT it’s about a fifth, and then you go over to public administration – I think it’s about three percent. I think if you look at education in general only about two percent of workers primarily work at home.”
To his surprise, the percentage of home workers is highest in rural areas.
“Since 2000 the majority of job growth you have had in rural areas has been these working from home jobs – places like Richmond County in the Northern Neck or Nelson County.”
In 2015, a million Virginians in rural areas had no access to the Internet, but now Lombard says, state and local governments see it as an essential service and have increased the number of people who can work on the worldwide web.
