I telecommute 4 days a week. The one day I drive into the office I spend 5 hours in the car. It is a long day and it leaves no time when I return home to do anything work or personal related. On occasion I have gone into the office 2 or 3 times in the same week, but that is unusual. My situation is temporary though and I will relocate and return to working in the office daily in the future. Before I was telecommuting, I was driving 5 hours a day 4-5 days a week.

The biggest obstacle is not the employer, but the other employees. Once the employer sees the amount of work you get done and that there is no problem with team input, there should not be a problem. It is something almost every employee would like to do and some complain. Now that gas prices have gone up, many other employees who do not telecommute, would like to. Especially if they live an hour or more driving distance away. Typical a company's response is to tell the employee to move closer.

To work from home, I have broadband and a cisco firewall that allows me to vpn directly to my office network. I use an IP phone on the same system as the rest of the company as well. My extension number at home is the same as in the office. For meetings when I cannot be physically present, we use AT&T phone conferencing and webex for desktop sharing. It works quite well.

When I was working in the office every day, I typically left the office around 5:30pm and only opened up my laptop to work when a project deadline was close. Working out of the home, I tend to get on the computer at 7am and often don't get off the computer til 10pm. I work on weekends as well. My project list seems to grow the more I get done. If I were to take my salary and divide it by the number of hours I am working now, it is frightening to contemplate the hourly rate. However, it is worth it to me to be able to work from my home most days. I am here temporarily for family health reasons so the trade-off is worth it.

You might try telecommuting 2-3 days a week on a trial basis. If it works out, then your employer might consider it on a more permanent basis.


>I work 180 miles from the house. I get up at 4 and arrive at the ofice at 7. I leave at 6 and get home at 8 or 8:30. I'm in the car 4 hours a day. I work four 10 hours days and I am off on friday. Gas is costing me close to $700 a month just to get to and from the office.
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>I have asked my company to assist in any way they can. I telecommuted two times last week, and my boss has asked me to come up with alternatives. Here is what I have so far. I need other suggestions:
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>Option                    Pros	                                   Cons
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Do nothing	          No extra demands on Company              Continued strain on travel related expenses.
>
>Telecommute 1 or 2 days   Reduce cost of gas, driving time and     Less presence at the office
>a week                    wear & tear on my truck. Increased
>                          productivity
>	
>Work three 12-hour days   Reduce cost of gas, driving time and     Potential to become burned out. Only at the
>and telecommute 4 hours   wear & tear on my truck.                 office 3 days per week.
>on Thursday	
>
>Gas card or gas           Reduce or eliminate my gas costs.        Expense for Company
>Reimbursement.	          Writeoff for Company.
>
>Hotel reimbursement	  Reduce or eliminate my gas costs a few   Expense for Company. More time away from my
>                          days a week. Writeoff for Company. Less  family.
>                          long drives. Close to the office.
>
>Hybrid car lease or       Recuce cost of gas and wear & tear on    Expense for Company.
>reimbursement		  my truck.
>