Employees Would Give Up Showers and Spouses to Work from Home

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People will do a lot to be able to work from home. Just ask the 12 percent of people who said they would forgo daily showers or the 5 percent of people who said they would divorce their spouse in order to telecommute.

While the above choices may have been the most bizarre survey responses, conducted by in a new poll conducted by online communications provider TeamViewer, they highlight the fact that people are willing to do and give up a lot in order to work from home.  A significantly higher percentage of people, 34 percent, said they would be willing to give up social medi,a while an additional 30 percent said they would give up texting if they were able to telecommute.  Other interesting responses to the poll included:

• 29 percent who would give up chocolate
• 25 percent who would give up their smartphone
• 20 percent who would give up shopping

Additionally, many respondents were willing to make sacrifices that affected their compensation and benefits packages, as 17 percent would give up a salary increase and 15 percent would give up half of their vacation days if they were able to telecommute. 

"While the results of this survey may seem amusing, these findings show that telecommuting will be a force to be reckoned with in the future," said Holger Felgner, general manager at TeamViewer.

One reason for the potential growth of telecommuting may come from the fact that 54 percent of respondents thought they would be at least as productive working from home as they were from the office. An additional 32 percent felt they would be much more productive if they were able to telecommute.  This feeling, however, was aided by several factors, chief among them that new technologies are helping to allow people to have the ability to telecommute. 

According to the survey, 53 percent of people feel that the increase in the use of smartphones and tablets is increasing the ability to telecommute. Additionally, 49 percent of people felt that access to telecommuting is becoming more accessible and easier. 

The information in this survey was compiled by Harris Interactive for TeamViewer and is based on the responses of 2,630 people over the age of 18.  

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Reach BusinessNewsDaily staff writer David Mielach at Dmielach@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @D_M89.