Survey: Most Salt Lake workers would love work-at-home option

Two-thirds of Salt Lake City workers in a recent survey indicated they would love to have the option to work at home at least some of the time.

While the 67-percent figure might seem high, it places workers in Salt Lake City and Pittsburgh as the least concerned about the option to telecommute.

The survey by global staffing firm Robert Half rated how likely workers would be to accept a job if it offered telecommuting as a possibility. In the 28 surveyed cities, 77 percent indicated they would like the option to do some work at home.

{mprestriction ids="1,3"}About half — 51 percent — of Salt Lake City workers admit there are downsides to telecommuting and cited feelings of isolation from their team and people abusing the benefit as the most common negatives to remote work.

Of all age groups, local workers aged 18-34 find telecommuting most appealing.

The telecommuting work option was most attractive to professionals in Los Angeles and San Francisco. A Robert Half survey last fall indicated that San Francisco had one of the longest average commutes in the U.S. and that Los Angeles had the most stressful commute. In that same survey, Salt Lake City workers faced the 27th-worst average commute times, at nearly 41 minutes, and the 23rd-most-stressful commutes.

Robert Half indicated that offering telecommuting options could help local companies trying to lure and retain professionals in a tight job market.

“High employment levels mean more people are on the roads traveling to and from their jobs, which increases traffic and makes working remotely more appealing,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director for Robert Half. “Employees want the ability to telecommute for various reasons. For some it’s flexibility in their schedule; for others it’s about saving time and money. Companies that promote these options are more likely to attract top candidates in a competitive employment market.”

The survey was developed by Robert Half and conducted by an independent research firm and includes responses from more than 2,800 workers 18 years of age or older and employed in office environments in 28 major U.S. cities.{/mprestriction}