The study’s headline caught my eye. But the details made me yawn. Here’s why:
Working from home may be slightly more lucrative than commuting to the office.
Aside from the obvious cost savings — burning less gasoline, spending less on eating out and having smaller clothing budgets, for example — a survey of Bureau of Labor Statistics data found that men who work from home are paid about 13 cents per hour more than men who work from the office. For women, the differential is about 9 cents.
I can’t believe
1. That making 9 to 13 cents more per hour ($3.60 to $5.20 per week) can’t be accounted for by something totally unrelated to telecommuting.
2. That HR people have any business caring about this “discrepancy”
3. Some idiot would commission a study when the differences are so meaningless.
4. Most of these are “hourly” employees. I’ll bet most are salaried and may tend to work more and earn less per hour.
Given the fact that telecommuters supply their own overhead – real estate, electricity, sometimes even computers, DSL and phone lines (depending on the work) that they aren’t perhaps losing money using the same measures as this study.
But decide for yourself if this infinitesimal difference was worth the spike in blood pressure.
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