Connecticut Ranks Among Top States for Telecommuting

Connecticut has been one state that strongly advocates telecommuting, as evidenced in this press release that goes back to 2006, in which Telecommute Connecticut (a state agency created to promote telecommuting) indicated that even at that time more than 117,000 Connecticut residents were telecommuting. That press release, while dated, cited a national survey naming three of Connecticut's cities among the "Best Cities for Teleworking" in America - Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven, which were rated first, third and sixth best medium metro areas (respectively) to telecommute.

The survey, which was conducted by research group Sperling's BestPlaces and Intel Corporation, based the study on market size, typical commuting times, fuel prices, Internet availability and population in telecommute friendly jobs. Some of the statistics quoted were interesting:

• From 1994 to 2004, the telecommuting population grew from 9.1 million to 44.4 million across the U.S.
• Of these 44.4 million telecommuters, 24.1 million had work at home jobs working for someone else and 20.3 million were self employed.
• 44 percent of U.S. companies offered telecommuting options in 2005, up from 32 percent since 2001.
• Experts believe that telecommuting will increase 60 percent by the year 2010 from 24 million to 40 million employed workers working at home.

Established in 1998, Telecommute Connecticut is a commuter service of the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The program provides free assistance to employers and employees with the design, development and implementation of telecommuting programs. Telecommute Connecticut is, in large part, responsible for growing the popularity and acceptance within the state.

The agency was more recently featured in this post in The Resident, that indicates the agency is now making itself available to help in setting up work at home offices for telecommuters in the event of a potential H1N1 swine flu outbreak that could occur this fall.

In that piece, The Resident quotes Jean Stimolo, Program Manager for Telecommute CT, who suggests that “Connecticut employers would benefit greatly by planning ahead so that they are ready with a telecommuting option and are not caught off-guard when an employee’s access to the office is blocked or limited.”

It will indeed be interesting to see if 40 million workers (or even more) end up as telecommuters in 2010. Pandemic outbreaks (and the hopes of curtailing them) could certainly by a catalyst for dramatically increasing the popularity of working from home.

For more information about Telecommute CT, you can visit www.telecommuteCT.com or call 1-800-255-7433.

Related:

Why Do You Work from Home - or Want To?
Work at Home Guide