Telecommuters Enjoy Working in the Buff

March 3, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A survey of 941 remote and mobile workers worldwide found that 12% of male and 7% of female telecommuters work in the nude.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents from both sexes said they wear sweats when they work from home, according to a press release from SonicWALL Inc., who conducted the survey along with Insight Express.

Not only did they not feel the need to dress, but many respondents did not feel the need to clean either when working remotely. Only 44% of women surveyed said they showered on work-at-home days, and only 30% of men said the same, according to the release. Men were slightly more likely to shave (33%) than wash.

As far as spending time on non-work activities while working remotely, the survey found:

  • 45% of telecommuters surveyed said they listen to music while working at home,
  • 35% of respondents said they took the opportunity to eat and drink outside of standard times when telecommuting,
  • 28% took time away to watch TV,
  • 21% admitted to taking a nap during work-at-home days, and
  • 18% of men and over 38% of women regularly break off to do household tasks such as laundry, dishwashing or dusting.

On the plus side, the telecommuting environment seems to ease stress and anger. Eighty percent of respondents said they have never lost their temper with support staff trying to help them fix a problem, and in spite of the extra-curricular activities, 76% said telecommuting was an aid to productivity. Sixty-one percent believe their manager agrees.

A problem the survey reported: security came low on the list of priorities for telecommuters, with 88% of the individuals surveyed admitting to storing passwords in easily-discovered locations, and only 12% employing encrypted files to store and manage their login data. Four percent said they posted notes with login data on their computers.

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