Over half of the workers in India Telecommute

According to a new Ipsos/Reuteurs survey, 20% of workers telecommute frequently, while almost 10% work remotely every day.  The new poll asked to more than 11,000 people over 24 countries about their remote working habits and found out that telecommuting is particularly frequent in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

The research shows that the country which is leading the telecommuting revolution is India, where over half of the workers do their jobs from the comforts of their homes. Following India is Indonesia with 34%, followed by Mexico with 30% and then by Argentina, South Africa and Turkey.

On the other side of the spectrum, as the most telecommuting reluctant countries, are Hungary, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France and Canada.

“It is really a story about the emerging markets and I am not sure if that is because the West is about to pick up the trend. They are definitely still skeptical, “ explained Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos.  

“But they see a lot of advantages. Europe and North America afree that telecommuting is a great way to retain women. It provides less stress because of less commuting and provides a better work-life balance,” she added.

Even those that aren’t telecommuting full time at the moment are looking forward to embrace the possibility, with 34% of them stating that they would like to telecommute full-time.

Balancing work/life is often thought of as being one of most positive things about telecommuting, but the survey also stresses that telecommuters are often considered to be more productive than regular workers since they have more control over their work space.

On the downside, concerns were also expressed that telecommuting could be socially isolating and that it could create more conflicts at home.

Still, one thing seems to be certain: remote work is here to stay.

According to a recent survey by Accountemps, remote work in the U.S. alone has increased 33% in the last three years, a trend that is expected to continue over the next five years.

Among the reasons that are leading more and more people to telecommute every year are:

·         increasing CEO awareness of what remote work can do for them and their employees;

·         and cheaper and better technologies available in the market, such as RHUB remote support and remote access appliance.

As Keren Gottfried said in an interview: it “gives you the opportunity to work when you are most productive.  You are working when you know you are best able to get the work done.”