Brendan Read

The debates over land use and transportation solutions to resolve congestion

and cut pollution for the Lower Mainland are approaching their own gridlock.

The traditional "answers" pose undesirable choices. New roads entail

construction, upkeep and emergency services, plus health care and

environmental damage costs.

They incur lost property taxes buried by pavement and promote sprawl that is

also subsidized. Transit lines are expensive to build and operate, and

demand people change their lifestyles.

Yet the best route out of this jam may be to ask the old Second World War

question: "Is this trip necessary?" Many people in a growing array of

occupations -- accountants, call centre agents, engineers, managers,

programmers, teachers, writers -- are working from home. Students are

minimizing trips by going online.

Personal computers with high-speed connections, advanced phone switching and

voice over the Internet give home workers equal quality access to customers,

colleagues and data.

E-mail, instant messaging, cellular and "walkie-talkie" wireless, audio,

data, video and web conferencing enable co-workers and supervisors,

professors, students and classmates to stay in touch.

These technologies are making traditional face-to-face supervision

unnecessary. A 2002 study of Canadian executives by International

Communications Research found that 94 per cent of managers often send e-mail

rather than meet one-to-one; 67 per cent do so very often.

In February 2003, the Calgary Herald quoted Bob Schultz, professor of

strategic management at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of

Business, as saying that e-mails "give managers the ability to respond to

more people than before. Managers don't have enough time to do face-to-face

meetings with everyone."

Any activity that does not entail in-person interaction with others or

require manipulating equipment can be done from home, full-time or

part-time. This cuts down on trips, congestion, accidents, pollution,

emergency services and demand for tax dollars.

With home working, people can live where they can afford to while minimizing

their contribution to gridlock and global warming.

Employers can reach beyond Lower Mainland commuting distance to tap workers.

That boosts employment and income in struggling Interior communities.

The more people who work from home, the more room there will be on roads and

transit for those who have to travel. Also, the less strain on our power

grid caused by sudden peaks and valleys when people go to work and come home

again.

Having employees work from home provides disaster protection by distributing

the workforce. Evacuations are minimized, enabling emergency services to

reach the scenes quicker. Putting your people into one office makes them

more vulnerable to earthquakes, fires, power blackouts, severe storms or

terrorist attacks. I left my Manhattan office on Sept. 11, 2001, and worked

from home after that.

Home working has been shown to save companies money and boost productivity.

AT&T saved more than $150 million in 2003 with it; ARO, a Kansas City,

Mo.-based call centre outsourcer estimates it has gained more than $1

million a year since switching to home workers.

Employees stay longer, work harder and are healthier. Workplaces are "germ

factories" that cost employers plenty in lost output.

Even so, organizations need prodding. While executives and managers prefer

to have the option of face-to-face supervision, it is a luxury society can

no longer afford.

Governments must look at ways to encourage home working. One method is to

charge per-employee commuting fees on a fair formula, such as the average

per-day workplace transportation and environmental expenses. In exchange,

corporate taxes would be lowered across the board.

Exemptions would be granted if organizations certified that employees worked

from or are based from home, or that they need to be at the sites in person.

That acts as an incentive for full-time and part-time home working without

penalizing necessary in-person activities.

Government departments and post-secondary institutions would also pay these

fees, but get them back plus top off the difference in extra money for their

programs for every person working or studying from home. Non-profits would

also benefit from a similar rewards program.

Authorities should also look at tax deductions for vacated but still-leased

properties and for voice or data equipment used by home workers. Landlords

would be given extra incentives or leeway to convert or demolish unused

offices.

Because society has assumed commuting is necessary, we have borne the price

of transportation demand. But with changes in work and study and with roads,

transit, environment, land and taxpayer resources approaching breaking

points, it is time to end the free ride.

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Brendan Read is vice-president, Vancouver Island for Transport 2000 BC, a

provincial transportation advocacy association, and the author of Home

Workplace.