Posted on 07/28/2006 10:57:12 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Ron Rogers gets behind the wheel of his Acura Integra before dawn in Brentwood, Calif. His iPod, loaded with stand-up comedy and audio books, is hooked up to the car stereo.
Rogers needs plenty of audio material for his commute: He drives more than 90 miles -- roughly two hours each way -- from the San Francisco Bay Area to his job as a public relations specialist at a communications technology firm in suburban Sacramento.
Rogers is one of the 3.4 million workers that the Census Bureau has dubbed "extreme commuters." At least 2 percent of Americans wake up to a commute of 90 minutes or more one way. Not surprisingly, most of these workers live near major metropolitan centers: New York, New Jersey, Maryland, California, and Washington, D.C., have the most workers with extreme commutes.
The number of super-commuters nationwide has skyrocketed 95 percent since 1990, as workers hang on to lucrative jobs in city centers but move farther and farther afield in search of better housing, low crime, and good schools.
Too Much of a Bad Thing
Unfortunately, commuting is a bitter pill that rarely gets easier to swallow. Researchers have found that people have the capacity for "hedonic adaptation" -- in laymen's terms, the ability to adjust to extreme circumstances, both happy and unhappy.
For instance, classic studies of lottery winners and paralyzed accident victims found only small differences in life satisfaction between these groups and control subjects. But certain experiences -- living near a noisy highway, for example -- become more aggravating over time, something scientists call "sensitization." Commuting falls into this category.
A 2004 study by two economists at the University of Zurich found that people tend to overestimate what they'll get by commuting long distances -- i.e., a bigger paycheck, a more prestigious position, the ability to buy more stuff -- and underestimate what it will cost them in stress, health, and loss of connection to family and friends.
Driving to Stay in Place
Which brings us back to Rogers. Married with an infant son, he fell into his morning marathon involuntarily. Shortly after he bought his home in Brentwood in 2004, he was laid off from his PR job in nearby Pleasanton. In July 2005, he found the position with SureWest Communications in Roseville, outside Sacramento.
Rogers quickly put his home on the market, but real estate prices were declining as new developments became available and interest rates inched higher. Rogers would still have made a small profit by selling immediately, but not enough to afford the same digs in Sacramento.
"We were afraid we would end up selling and never get into a similar house again," he says. And so he began his long-distance relationship with work, spending $400 a month on gas and occasionally crashing on friends' couches in Sacramento.
Then, about four months ago, Rogers and his boss hit on a solution: telecommuting. Rogers now works from home two to three days a week -- a setup his company had never tried before.
The Country's Costly Commuters
In 2004, more than 24 million Americans, or nearly one-fifth of the workforce, worked at home during business hours at least one day per month, according to the International Telework Association and Council. About two-thirds were self-employed, but 7.6 million worked for companies.
With the miseries of commuting well-documented and gas prices hitting record highs, one would expect the masses to be banging down their managers' doors looking for a deal like Rogers'. But many workers who have the ability to telecommute don't take advantage of it, according to a new study by the University of Maryland Center for Excellence in Service and consulting firm Rockbridge Associates.
The poll found that only 2 percent of adults who work telecommute full time; another 9 percent telecommute part time and 8 percent have home-based businesses. Of those who could feasibly telecommute, less than half would choose to do so more than two days per week, and 14 percent would not telecommute at all.
The study suggests that our unwillingness to sacrifice our social lives at the office, combined with our love affair with cars, costs $3.9 billion in fuel and time annually.
Telecommuting Isn't for Everyone
These findings shocked me, since I've thoroughly enjoyed working from my home office for the last few years. (Actually, it's an unfinished space in the basement that's pleasantly cool in the summer and bone-rattling cold in the winter unless the space heater is turned on full blast.)
One reason workers don't telecommute is that the financial savings just aren't that significant for most people, says Charles Colby, president of Rockbridge Associates. "The median commuting time in the U.S. is 20 minutes, and many people only have 15 or less," Colby explains. "Let's say gas goes up to $4 a gallon. You commute 20 miles in total in a typical day and your car gets 20 miles to a gallon -- you're looking at four dollars a day."
An estimated two-thirds of the Fortune 500 companies offer telework options, according to Gil Gordon, president of a New Jersey consulting firm that has been advising companies on the practice since 1982.
He's not surprised by the University of Maryland/Rockbridge study. "One of things that makes an employer desirable is they are open to flex time or telework or casual dress," he explains. "Even if people don't take advantage of it, they like to have the choice. People are savvy enough to have thought about it and know when it's not right for them."
Kristin Beltramini, 24, knows telecommuting is right for her. Like many Boston-area workers, she lives across the border in New Hampshire -- more than 40 miles from her job at a public relations firm in Woburn, Mass. On a good day, she'll spend an hour driving to work. But on Friday night, that almost doubles. "People are leaving Boston for the weekend -- the lakes in the summer, the leaves in the fall, and skiing in the winter," she says.
Beltramini drives a Honda Civic that gets 36 miles to the gallon, and fills her tank once a week to the tune of $30. She figures working from home four days a month saves her between $24 and $36 and countless hours of aggravation. She relies on her cell phone, laptop, and high-speed Internet connection to link to the office's network.
Coming Up with a Plan
If you too want to telecommute, put yourself in your manager's shoes first, Gordon advises. "Anticipate his or her concerns about your availability -- how you'll answer phone calls, what you'll do if there is a meeting or if you're needed in an emergency."
Also explain, in writing, why working from home will give you the ability to be more productive, to organize your work better, or meet deadlines more effectively. Figure out what parts of your job can be done more efficiently from home. "It's all about keeping your manager's blood pressure low," Gordon says.
As Beltramini has discovered, working at home "is a great chance to be extremely productive because people are not coming to my desk asking for things," she says. "The only distraction is my cat likes to sit on my lap or walk across the keyboard."
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I'm finally officially 'extreme' at something!
Women and children hardest hit.
Haliburton profits from the tragedy.
Causes Global WarmingTM.
Will end life as we know it.
I don't understand people with those kind of commutes, live in the same town you work. I had a commute that was half an hour in the morning and 45 minutes coming home and absolutely HATED it, when the company move to a building only 10 minutes from home was one of the happiest days in my professional life. 90 minutes one way would send me to the laughing acadamy.
My last raise alone pays for all my gas. 75 miles each way but I have 7 acres, no debt, a couple years worth of savings, etc etc. The independence alone is worth it.
As an "extreme commuter" myself (1.5 - 2+ hours each way), my response is simple:
http://monster.com
http://realtor.com
Cope.
Couln't imagine spending that much time cooped up in a car. For the previous 8 years I had an 11 minute walking commute and recently switched to a 20 foot walk to work. Hope I don't gain weight:)
It has been my experience that "telecommuters" are a huge drag on their department. They're constantly calling in to their co-workers asking them to check the fax, find a document and fax it to them, get into their computer and find a file and e-mail it to them, etc. I have learned to hate telecommuters.
I'm not from CA, but isn't that a rather exclusive, gated type, community with million dollar homes?
Yeah, right. Average home where I live is 150-200k. Average home where I work is $450k+. I spend $3500 a year in gas and figure 5k in depreciation on the car. It would take 30 years before I'd be saving money buying a 450k home around work. Not to mention there is zero crime where I live and I live on a lake. Just have to deal with the odd bear here and there.
As it stands now, I'll have my house paid off before I'm 50 and that money not going into that huge mortgage is going into my 401k. I'll drive, thank you very much.
I also find 45 minutes split between walking, bus, and subway is a lot more pleasant than 45 minutes of driving except in the worst winter weather. Having the driving taken out of my hands so I can read or simply zone out... bliss.
Also, I probably make twice as much money than if I were able to work nearby. And we live in a house that costs half as much as it would near where I work. Top that off with a 5 mile daily drive to and from the bus stop and my bus fare completely paid for by the company... Hmm, who is crazy like a fox now!!
Ping for later when I'm not driving.
That's the other Brentwood, in Los Angeles. This one is about fifty miles east of San Francisco, on the edge of the Central Valley, a former small farming community...which is now full of million dollar homes. ;)
Wow! Now there is a new idea!(/s)
My wife commutes 85 miles one-way. She would't have it any other way. She does telecommute a few days a week. I do it almost all of the time.
I commute 75 minutes each way. I guess I am semi extreme? I have been doing it for a year and it SUCKS. As soon as the elections are over I no longer have to do it....YAH ME!!!!!!!!!
It depends on the job, I suppose, but in the post Sarbanes-Oxley world you will start to see a significant pullback in telecommuting opportunities. CFO's are being trained to really hate the idea of sensitive corporate data traveling offsite.
The real problem with this kind of commute is that it is pretty much totally unproductive time that is spent under increasingly stressful conditions.
We have what I'd consdier a sensible telecommute policy but I still kid my people that I'd like to have a full time video feed from their work station at home.
(Guess I'm sore that since I moved into my current position I really can't telecommute at all).
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