According to Gallop, the survey company, 37% of people employed by a business do some or all of their work from home and the number continues to rise.
Both companies and workers report positive benefits from having their employees work remotely. Companies are saving a lot of money. Forbes magazine reports that American Express has annual savings of $10 - $15 million dollars and Aetna, where about one-half of their employee now work remotely, was able to reduce 2.7 million square feet office space, saving the company $78 million dollars each year.
Many workers prefer to work distraction free. 86% of workers who work remotely said that they prefer to work alone and two-thirds of their managers said that those remote workers had higher productivity.
A study by PGI, a provider of software services, found that 80 percent of workers reported higher morale when working from home, while 69 percent reported lower absenteeism.
And, according to a study published by Stanford University, working remotely reduced employee turnover, with job attrition rates falling by over 50%
AfterCollege, a career network for college students and recent grads seeking employment, 68 percent were more interested in working for a company that allowed them to work remotely.
With longer lifespans, older workers are discarding the idea of retiring at the age of 65 and 34 percent of them would like to work from home, this according to AARP.
Todays technologies and readily available low cost cloud services are making working from a [Virtual Office](http://www.americanvoicemail.com/virtualoffice) easier and less expensive than ever before. In addition to the phone company there are many companies that provide local and toll free phone numbers, some for free, that ring directly to a remote workers cell phone.
Voicemail, Fax to Email, desktop faxing and [virtual phone numbers](http://www.americanvoicemail.com/virtualphonenumber) are all readily available and replace the tools once reserved for a physical office.
Internet service is usually provided by the remote workers home Internet service and their cell phone.
Remote desktop services allow remote workers to login to the companys computer system from anywhere and Skype and other online meeting software has made it possible and easy for workers to collaborate with other employees and work directly with customers.
