2009 National Technology Readiness Survey
Telecommuting Report

Highlights on Telecommuting from the 2009 National Technology Readiness Survey

• 92 percent of workers commute to work by themselves using their own car, barely changed from 2005 when it was 91 percent. Only 3 percent use mass transit and 2 percent ride share.
• The median commuter distance, one way, is 12.5 miles, slightly more than 2005 when it was 10 miles. The media commuting time one way is 20 minutes, the same as in 2005.
• A full 77 percent of U.S. workers have a full-time commute. Among the rest, 14 percent telecommute or work at home, of which half (7 percent) telecommute full-time and half (7 percent) do so part-time. Another 9 percent of workers have a job that does not require a commute.
• If everyone who had the option by their employer to telecommute took advantage of this, the share of telecommuters would rise from 14 percent to 16 percent. If the pool included those who don't have the option but who could accommodate working from home, the share of telecommuters would be 23 percent.
• Telecommuting is widely viewed as a part-time option. As noted, half of those who work at home now do so part-time, and only a small share of those who could telecommute would do so full-time.
• In the short run, encouraging telecommuting as a way to save energy, help the environment and reduce congestion has limits. A better policy might be to encourage workers to use mass transit, carpool and use more environmentally friendly vehicles.

Introduction

Since 1999, the National Technology Readiness Survey (NTRS) has tracked beliefs about technology and key behaviors related to the internet and technology. It includes measures of consumer technology readiness and identifies emerging trends in commerce and society. The study is administered by Rockbridge Associates, Inc., a technology research firm, and is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

The NTRS is based on a random sample of U.S. adults (18 years or older) and is administered by telephone. This report on telecommuting covers two waves with identical questions that are three and a half years apart:

• 2009 NTRS - 601 adults surveyed January to June 2009, margin of error +/- 4 percentage points
• 2005/2006 NTRS - 1,015 adults (one-half surveyed by telephone and one-half surveyed by web) in December 2005 and February 2006, margin of error +/- 3 percentage points.

Findings

Telecommuting is a topic of interest in the NTRS because information technology makes working at remote locations possible in a time of high gasoline costs and concerns about the environmental impact of automobile traffic. Past waves of the study have also looked at the adoption of environmentally beneficial technologies including high mileage and alternative fuel vehicles.

The infrastructure for telecommuting is extensive. Home Internet access is now at 81 percent, with 86 percent of these users having high speed access. Among people who are employed full-time, home access is 90 percent, with 91 percent of these users having high speed access.

Commuting Patterns and Trends
The vast majority of workers in the U.S. (86 percent) commute to work part or full time. The automobile is the dominant form of transportation, relied on by 92 percent of full and part-time workers with commutes. Other modes include: ride sharing or carpooling (2 percent), mass transit or public transportation (3 percent), walking or biking (1 percent), and 2 percent use other methods¹. The commuting methods are virtually unchanged since the last time these questions were asked four years ago (2005). Despite rising fuel costs and concerns about the environment, the automobile continues to be the dominant form of commuting transportation.

The median commuting time is 20 minutes one-way (i.e., half have commutes at or below 20 minutes, and half are at or above this number). A fifth of workers (21 percent) have commutes of 10 minutes or less, while another fifth (20 percent) commute 30 minutes or more one-way².

• Among those who drive or carpool, the median miles driven one way is 12.5³. One in six (16 percent) commute 20 miles or more one way.

The median commute time of 20 minutes is unchanged since 2005. However, the median distance has increased from 10 to 12.5 miles. In 2005, 53 percent of commuters travelled 10 miles or less one way. By 2009, only 44 percent had commutes this short, a statistically significant change. Rather than getting "greener," American workers are actually traveling greater distances for their commutes than four years ago.

Telecommuting Patterns and Opportunities
Most workers in the U.S. commute to work, with 77 percent reporting they commute all the time to work⁴. Among the other 23 percent:

• 9 percent have a job that does not require a commute (e.g., a home-based business)
• 7 percent telecommute part-time and travel to their jobs the rest of the time; two out of three telecommute just one day a week
• 7 percent telecommute or work from home full-time: one out of five of these full-time telecommuters still commute to another location periodically.

Of those with full-time commutes and are not telecommuting or working from home at all, 3 percent have the option of telecommuting; if they exercised this option, another 2.5 percent of the workforce would be telecommuting or working from home.

• Of those who do not have an option to telecommute or work at home, 9 percent believe they have the kind of job that would allow them to telecommute at least some of the time without interfering with their productivity. If they telecommuted, the effect would be an additional 7 percent of the workforce telecommuting.

Thus, if everyone who had an employer policy allowing them to telecommute took advantage of this, the share of telecommuters would grow from 14 percent to 16 percent; if everyone who could or felt they could telecommute did so, even if their employers do not currently have a policy, the share would grow to 23 percent.

Those with a telecommuting policy or a job that allows them to telecommute were asked how often they would telecommute. Like those who already telecommute, most would do so only part-time - only 14 percent would telecommute over two days per week, and 32 percent would not telecommute at all⁵.

• 3% would telecommute less than once a week
• 26% would telecommute 1 day a week
• 18% would telecommute 2 days a week
• 11% would telecommute 3 or 4 days a week
• 3% would telecommute 5 or more days a week
• 32% would still not telecommute
• 8 percent are not sure

Implications of Telecommuting
Telecommuting is not an end-all solution to the problems resulting from the daily traversing of nearly 100 million adults. Telecommuting as a solution is limited for a few reasons: first, the typical commute is perhaps not that bad (12.5 miles and 20 minutes one way), reducing the incentive to change work habits to telecommute; second, only a fourth of workers could ultimately telecommute, and this assumes that many employers would change their policies to allow it; and finally, most individuals who might choose to telecommute would only do so for a day or two, and only a fraction would consider it as a full-time option.

Opportunities may be less in whether we commute and more in how we commute. Despite high fuel costs, over nine out of 10 workers still travel alone by automobile. The biggest opportunities for reducing energy consumption and green house gasses may be in encouraging use of and expanding availability of public transportation, carpooling, and ownership of high mileage, hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles. Information technology may help to speed adoption of these options. For example, the 2007 NTRS found that about a quarter of online adults used the web to look up gas mileage information on cars (27 percent) and research public transit options (24 percent).

Some groups are already changing their commuting and telecommuting habits. A critical group identified in the 2007 NTRS consists of "Green Tech Leaders." They constitute a tenth of the adult population in the U.S., are early adopters of green technology solutions, and influence others. This segment is using mass transit and telecommuting at twice the rate of other workers.

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¹"On a typical day, what form of transportation do you use to get to work? ONLY ONE ANSWER ACCEPTED: Use my own automobile or vehicle; get a ride, ride-share or carpool; use mass transit or public transportation; walk or bike; another mode." Based on full or part-time workers who commute. Sample size = 349.
²"On the days you commute to work, approximately how many minutes do you spend traveling in total to and from work?" Based on full or part-time workers who commute. Sample size = 298. Reported results are divided by 2 to reflect one-way.
³“On the days you commute to work, approximately how many miles do you travel, in total, to and from work?  Based on full or part-time works who commute by vehicle or car pool.  Sample size = 276.
⁴“Do you commute to get to work?”  “During a typical week, how many days a week do you: Physically commute to work?  Telecommute or work from home?”  Sample size = 349 adults who work full or part-time.
⁵“If you were to telecommute in the next 12 months, how frequently would you do so, considering what would be practical for both your employer and you?”  Based on 86 people who work full or part-time, do not telecommute, and have permission to telecommute or jobs that allow telecommuting.