"The purpose of this paper is to quantify the benefits of workshifting — specifically working from home — has for employers, employees, and the community. Citrix Online coined the term ‘workshifting’ to describe the growing trend to working from anywhere other than a traditional office through the use of web-based technology. The older and more traditional terms for this are teleworking or even telecommuting. Both of these terms are cited in this report to preserve its authenticity, since some of the data specifically cited those terms.
Three decades have passed since the concept of using technology to work outside of a traditional office was conceived. A broad body of evidence now corroborates the many economic, environmental, and societal benefits that researchers predicted. Occasional workshifting (one day a month) has grown significantly in recent years—increasing 74% from 2005 to 2008i , though few companies have adopted it as a regular, multiple days per week, business practice.
In fact, less than 2% of employees consider home their primary place of workii , although theoretical estimates and empirical evidence suggest that approximately 40% hold jobs that could be performed remotely, at least part of the time."
