Laura Murphy of St Charles IL is a huge advocate for telecommunication as a part of the modern workspace. As a Technical Writer who worked for almost a decade from home for a software company based in Chicago, she feels as though it is a step backwards that many modern tech companies force their employees to come and work in an office. “For some companies, it doesn’t make sense for employees to telecommute. But for those that it does make sense for, why force employees to drive all the way to work and spend valuable time adjusting, getting ready, re-adjusting, and driving home?”

Some companies, such as Dow Chemical and Best Buy, have determined that employees who telecommute are at least as productive as employees who are forced to come into an office each day, if not more productive. Laura Murphy of St Charles, IL’s argument is that telecommuting would reduce a company’s rate of attrition, as well as increase its productivity. “Even if they were only telecommuting two or three days out of the work week, this would be a huge boon to the company. Consider it for a moment; if you could wake up, make some breakfast, open your computer and start working, wouldn’t that increase your productivity? You could work for less time and accomplish the same amount or even more work than you otherwise would.”

According to a recent survey of workers in the tech industry, the average employee would be willing to take a 10% pay cut to have the ability to telecommute. Considering the possible increase in productivity on top of a decrease in pay, this is a baffling statistic, “theoretically companies would already benefit from the increase in productivity and decrease in the rate of attrition, not to mention potentially paying employees a little less. The possibilities could be huge for any company looking to turn a bigger profit. However, if this doesn’t convince the high-ups in corporate, I don’t know what would.”