According to Remote LAN Connectivity by Vertical Markets, a report issued by San Jose, California-based market research company Dataquest Inc, telecommuting is becoming widespread in the US. In a survey of more than 300 US professionals involved in local area network access decision-making in seven vertical sectors, Dataquest found nearly 65% of respondents currently provide remote access to the local area network; at least half of the sites in each industry plan to add more telecommuters in the near future. Analysing the trend industry sector: higher education is the leader in the field, with 94% of sites planning additional telecommuters; the transport, communications and utilities sector is second, with 77% of respondents intending to add more telecommuters; the section defined as business and other services, then government and wholesale and trade are reported at 66%, 55% and 53% respectively; 52% of the respondents from the manufacturing and banking and 50% of people interviewed from the insurance and finance sectors said the issue was on the agenda. Benefits cited by the interviewees include improved morale, gains in productivity due to people being able to work hours that suit them and lower overheads due to reduced office-space requirements. Future compliance with state and federal clean air legislation, which is likely to dictate the number of commuters a company may hire, is also a factor in opting for telecommuting, Dataquest was told.
