My state has more than our share of folks working at home, according to an article in the Oregonian. I’m wondering why, and have a "push" cause and a "pull" cause.
High traffic congestion would tend to push people into working at home, and the Portland metropolitan area is worse than normal. (I don’t think there are any state-wide measures of congestion. Portland is roughly half of Oregon’s population.)
The "pull" cause is our many new residents. Oregon attracts more than its share of people who move within the United States. These people are usually better educated than average. They typically are not moving here for work–Oregon’s unemployment rate is above the national average. They are coming for quality of life (whatever that is), and they are more open to non-traditional work, probably because they wouldn’t have moved here if they were wedded to the idea of a traditional job–remember our high unemployment rate.
Business Strategy Implications: If you’re having trouble retaining or recruiting workers, think about work-at-home options. And check out our past posts on employee retention and hiring.