There is a saying that the happier an employee is, the better quality work that person will do. I can certainly attest to this as can many other people in my situation. Currently, I am part of a growing number of people who are making their living without even having to leave the comfort of their own home, and I love it. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that I am spoiled by it. I say this because I am not sure that I would ever want to go back to work in an office environment- at least not for five days a week.



The popularity of telecommuting is forcing many employers to reconsider how they treat their employees as well as how much flexibility they are allowing their employees to have. They are having to reconsider this because they are now competing with other companies who are offering their employees all sorts of benefits and perks. Why, remember the days where companies might offer something called 'casual Fridays'? I can still remember being small and seeing my father go to work for Avis everyday in their uniform, which at the time consisted of a bright red suit and grey pants. It wasn't long before he moved up in the company and traded in the uniform for a regular suit, but it was still a suit nonetheless. Nowadays, it's almost unusual to see people dressed in suits and ties for work except if they are lawyers or something similar.

When you work from home, you can lounge around in your pajamas all day if you want and no one would know it but you (although I certainly don't advocate this). You can do your work in bed or at a table or pick up and fly off to another country- as long as you get the work done on time and to the satisfaction of your employer. Telecommuting can also save you a lot of money. Prior to being able to work from home, I had to commute at least thirty minutes to an hour (depending on traffic) just to get to my office. Seeing as how I had an SUV, it didn't take much to make me run out of gasoline quickly. Of course, as luck would have it, that year the gas prices shot up to where I was paying almost 75 dollars each time to fill up. Depending on the volume of traffic, I would sometimes be forced to fill up twice a week. Along with other living expenses and debt, I was actually losing money! I was embarrassed to have to borrow money from my parents just to help me exist on my own and strongly began to consider getting a different job. Then, by some small miracle, my company decided to let everyone work from home. All of us were ecstatic.

There have been a few malicious people that I have come across who are jealous of the fact that I telecommute, making it out to seem as if those who telecommute don't actually do any work. Not true. In fact, I would say that since I telecommute, I do much more work now than I have ever done before because you don't have the excuse to say- “I'm sick and can't make it into work today.” Telecommuting is a great option to have and one that you should definitely take advantage of if it presents itself.