Many Tech Workers Would Accept Pay Cut To Telecommute

In a poll of more than 1,500 IT workers, 37% said they would be willing to take a pay cut of up to 10% to telecommute full time.

By Marin Perez,  InformationWeek
June 10, 2008
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208403187

Nearly 40% of U.S. information technology workers would accept a reduced salary to have the ability to telecommute, a Dice Holding survey revealed Tuesday.

In a poll of more than 1,500 IT workers, 37% of respondents said they would be willing to take "slightly less" pay to telecommute full time. The survey defined "slightly less" as up to a 10% reduction in salary.

This is only 1% higher than respondents who said they wouldn't take a pay cut. But other surveys suggest that offering the ability to work from home can be a good way to attract and retain talented workers.

Workers can be drawn to the flexibility of telecommuting, and thanks to improvements to personal computers, videoconferencing, and Internet speeds, many remote workers can handle almost all their tasks from a home office.

Another growing issue is the spiraling cost of gasoline, which is more than $4 a gallon. Many private and federal offices are implementing plans that let workers work remotely, or have a compressed four-day workweek to combat the pain at the pump.

In a recent USA Today story, Sun Microsystems estimated that employees who choose to telecommute can cut gas purchases by 135 gallons a year, which at $4 a gallon would save $540. Sun has 18,000 employees who have the option to telecommute.

Only 7% of respondents to Dice's survey said they are already working remotely, although many of those jobs are limited to consulting firms where telecommuting is a necessary part of the job.