The results from a survey on telecommuting trends indicate that employers in the U.S. disallow many employees from participating in telecommuting arrangements, with the major reason being that upper management lacks trust in employees and harbors concerns over reduced productivity. Management’s largest concerns, according to the survey, are: 1) Lack of employee productivity; 2) Document safety; 3) Bandwidth issues; and 4) IT infrastructure costs. Additional research supports the notion that employers are resisting remote working arrangement. Research also reveals, however, inexorable growth in telecommuting.

For its Telecommuting Survey, the Intranet DASHBOARD surveyed 390 telecommuters in the United States and found that 70% of the respondents were restricted in some way from telecommuting, and posits that, because of distrust and concern, companies may be losing out on the productivity benefits of telecommuting, which, according to participants in the survey, results in significant infrastructure cost savings, reduced absenteeism, and increased productivity.

Previous research at once supports the Telecommuting Survey’s findings and suggests that management in some disciplines might nevertheless be embracing flexible work arrangements. Last year, for instance, Robert Half Technology found that 47% of more than 1,400 surveyed chief information officers’ employers are offering flexible work schedules to retain key IT talent.

Perhaps reflecting these various, undeniable advantages, telecommuting is set to increase in prevalence: Gartner and Deloitte both predict that 100 million corporate employees expect to be working from home at least one day a month by 2008.

Aside from the organizational benefits, increasing numbers of employees just plain want to telecommute. A Hudson poll of more than 1,900 employees in the U.S. last year found that, while only 23% work from home or are given the option, 59% believe that telecommuting at least part-time is the ideal work situation. That includes 38% who think a mix of coming into the office and working from home is preferable and 21% who say working at home is the best scenario.

In a press release, Campbell Dobbin, CEO of Intranet DASHBOARD, suggested that the availability of an intranet to telecommuters creates the security of community that might counter management’s negative attitudes about their employees working from remote locations. Intranet DASHBOARD found that 95% of telecommuters surveyed had access to the corporate intranet or extranet, and a whopping 59% of employers measure these telecommuters’ intranet usage.

Another 83% of participants in Intranet DASHBOARD’s survey say tele-working is considered an incentive or perk for staff, and 65% responded that flexible schedules were, as incentives to motivate and retain staff, more important than increases in base compensation, monetary bonuses, equity incentives, and rewards programs.