Why Ditch the Corporate Digs? New Survey Has Some Answers . . . and they're not the answers you're expecting.
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Why do people work at home? Let us count the reasons:tax-deductible living expenses, nap time, control of the thermostatand avoiding that ever-nasty company john.
As Swedish furniture manufacturer IKEA found, homebasedworkers' answers are often related more to why theydon't want to work from a corporate location as opposedto why they do want to work from home. The company posted thesurvey on its Web site in July as part of its first "NationalWork From Home Day-Stress Not Included" event. Within aweek, the site had received more than 12,500 responses, says MartyMarston of IKEA.
Among the respondents, 89 percent of people reported some aspectof the bathroom in their rationale to work at home-including21 percent of women reporting wanting to use their own brand ofsoft toilet paper. While 16 percent of men mentioned time withtheir kids as a rationale, only 4 percent of women did. Only 13percent mentioned money savings as a reason, while 23 percentmentioned time with pets. Some 23 percent reported wanting to workfrom home so they wouldn't feel compelled to sing or have"Happy Birthday" sung to them, the survey found. Fortypercent reported having nightmares about going to the office,including dreams about accidentally showing up naked.
The most frequently given reasons for working at home were:
The survey tallied responses from both homebased entrepreneursand teleworkers. The 10 most creative respondents received an IKEA"Work at Home Kit," which included a desk clock, desklamp, coffee mug and terry slippers.
Missing from the responses were concerns about family, stress,commute time and personal time, Marston says. In fact, the surveyresponses were fairly light-hearted. Still, IKEA gleaned some realinsights from homebased workers, she says. While 10 percentactually worked from home, many more said they would like to."People are interested in these timely issues," Marstonsays. "That kind of dialogue is very healthy and needs tooccur more often."
Journalist and author Jeff Zbar has worked from homesince the 1980s. He writes about home business, teleworking,marketing, communications and other SOHO issues.
