One of the fastest-growing forms of commuting is not commuting at all.
In the Chicago region, the number of people who said they usually work from home grew by 23 percent between 2013 and 2017, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s a total of 238,137 people who were working from home in 2017, or 5.1 percent of Chicago-area workers.
The trend is also national, with the number of people working from home up 28.3 percent in four years, to almost 8 million in 2017, surpassing the number of workers taking public transit, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Driving is still the most common way of getting to work, now followed by working from home, either for yourself or someone else.
The survey asked people to say how they “usually” get to work, meaning those working from home only once or twice a week are not counted. That means the number of people who telecommute at least occasionally is much larger.
The National Equity Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit, started a telecommuting program four years ago and found that allowing most employees to work from home has “really toned down the stress,” said Gaylene Domer, vice president of facilities.
“We’ve found the work-life balance has been incredibly successful for us,” Domer said. “If you’re driving in a car and you see road rage, or you miss the train and you’re soaking wet and have to catch the next train, you get to work and want to rip somebody’s eyeballs out.”
Not all those who work from home agree that the lack of a commute means less stress and more personal time. Lisa Milam, 54, a legal editor who lives in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood, said telecommuting for the last 10 years has “destroyed” her work-life balance, though it saves her money on Metra tickets and wardrobe.
“The time you would otherwise be in transit, I think most telecommuters give that time up to their employers, rather than taking that time to themselves,” Milam said.