Remote working strongly supported

A survey conducted by Microsoft Corp. found “strong support” for remote working among employers, managers and employees in midsize U.S. cities.

The growing interest in remote working has been spurred in part by rising energy costs, environmental concerns and the recent economic crisis have created a renewed interest in working from home (remote working), according to a Microsoft statement.

“Remote working is widely understood to provide companies with access to a larger talent pool, improve productivity, and lower overhead for items such as workstation space, common office space, insurance, utilities, maintenance and parking. However, today’s survey results suggest business leaders need to do more to encourage adoption to realize these benefits,” the company noted.

Microsoft surveyed employers, managers and employees in midsize U.S. cities and ranked its results using six key factors: employer support as reported by workers; the reported number of companies with remote-working policies; the level of managerial support reported by workers; the level of co-worker and peer support reported by workers; the percentage of workers who believe their job can be completed from home; and the percentage of workers using remote-working programs.

The survey showed four major trends:
• Employers support remote-working programs, although only 40% have a formal policy.
• Bosses, peers and colleagues support remote-working programs.
• Employees identify commuting avoidance and productivity of environment as benefits to using remote-working programs.
• Most employees do not work remotely, despite having desire, supportive environments and a belief that they can work competently from home.

“Strategic use of a remote work force and supporting technologies can be a competitive game-changer in this down economy, especially for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) that have historically trailed large enterprise companies in adopting remote working practices,” according to Microsoft.

The top 10 best midsize cities for remote workers are::
San Diego
West Palm Beach, Fla.
Buffalo, N.Y.
Salt Lake City
Raleigh, N.C.
Oklahoma City
Nashville, Tenn.
Charleston, S.C.
Greensboro, N.C.
Hartford-New Haven, Conn.

Other survey results include:
• Most employers do not have a remote-working policy; 39.4% actually have a policy detailing or enabling remote work(2).

• Respondents in most cities see employers as being slightly positive about remote-working programs, with a mean of 5.5 on a scale in which

• Respondents generally felt that their manager (67.4%) was more supportive than their peers or colleagues (61.2%).

• The top three reasons to work from home according to survey respondents are to save gas, be more productive and have fewer distractions.

• Across the board, 77.3% of people reported that gas prices increased their desire to work from home.