Every weekday morning, Fran McDonough gets up and commutes to her job at Bell Atlantic -- walking through the kitchen, down the stairs and into the basement where she turns on her computer.
"The only traffic I run into is the laundry basket," said McDonough, a claims specialist and one of a growing number of "teleworkers" -- government and corporate employees who work at home or in regional centers.
About 50,500 employees, or 3.6 percent of the workers in the Baltimore metropolitan region, telecommute to their jobs at least occasionally, according to a study released today by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. And faced with increasing traffic congestion and air pollution that ranks among the nation's worst, Maryland is encouraging more companies to start telework programs.
"It's one more way to increase our capacity of the transportation network we have," said state Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari.
This year, the Maryland General Assembly ordered state agencies to establish teleworking programs with a goal of enlisting 10 percent of state workers whose jobs are conducive. In the private sector, the state has funded a $600,000 campaign to encourage employers to establish telework programs.
Congress has approved a program giving companies financial incentives for allowing employees to work at home.
Nationwide, telework is growing quickly; advances in technology, concerns for pollution and low unemployment are prompting employers to offer more flexible working conditions, said Gail Martin, executive director of the International Telework Association and Council, a nonprofit group that promotes telework.
"It's really a phenomenon of the 1990s," said Martin, noting that telework has grown from 4 million workers in 1990 to about 18 million this year. Those numbers do not include the self-employed who work in home offices.
In the study released today, the Metropolitan Council estimates about 17 percent of the areas employers offer telework programs.
`It's a perk'
Bell Atlantic began allowing employees to telecommute about 10 years ago as part of a larger incentive package to attract and retain good workers, said Fred Jenkins, the company's director of Human Resources Communications and Work Life Strategies.
"It's a perk we bundle in with other workplace policies," Jenkins said.
