Telecommuters With Flextime Can Happily Work 20 Hours More Per Week

Those given the option to work from home and set their own hours were able to put in an average of 19 hours more work per week, a new Brigham Young University study finds.

The researchers analyzed data from nearly 25,000 IBM employees. They found that of the workers putting in a normal 40 hour workweek from the office, a quarter of them reported that after 38 hours, work interfered with their home lives.

Of the workers given the option to telecommute or work flexible schedules, they put in an average of 57 hours before a quarter of workers said that the work interfered with their home life.

The moral of the story could be that companies who give their employees freedom then expect their freer employees to check in on the Blackberry eighteen times a day. Or it could be that if employers trust their workers, their workers repay that trust in droves.

It could also be much simpler. It could be that it’s less taxing to put in an extra hour of work when you’re sitting on your couch with a glass of wine rather than listening to your annoying coworker rattle on about his kickball team.

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