The dream of working from home has been a sought-after but elusive one for decades. Since the inception of computers, the hope that someday we will be able to skirt traffic jams and overbearing bosses has been kept alive.

Today's world of bits and bytes offers workers the opportunity to build their own business from the comfort of their home office. Whether eBay, network marketing, or other wealth-building endeavors, some have indeed accomplished their dream of self-employment and a steady, reliable source of income.

However, the phrase "working from home" can also mean still being employed full-time by a company and telecommuting to work every day.

Ironically, though today we have the technology and infrastructure in place to work from our home offices, companies continue to hesitate in formulating a telecommuting policy. The only reasoning behind this is so that team members have direct access to one another and bosses can perform their management duties; yet still, this can be accomplished through texting and online chat among other modern means of communication.

Still, many advantages exist for both employer and employee when it comes to telecommuting. Here are the Top 5:

5) Convenience. No rushing to get to work, fighting bad traffic, and getting stressed in the morning rush. At-home workers can rise at a later time, have a leisurely breakfast in their own kitchen, then go two steps to their home office to work. Lunchtime is convenient as well, and the at-home worker saves money by grabbing something to eat from their refrigerator or pantry.

4) Global Warming and Pollution Reduction. Taking polluting, greenhouse gas-emitting cars off the road means cleaner air and a potential mitigation of global warming.

3) Less Traffic. With our cities becoming increasingly congested, telecommuting takes cars off the road leading to less accidents and headaches.

2) Employer Saves Money. I'm always hearing about companies busting at the seams because they have too many employees and too little leased square footage. Telecommuting solves that problem; by formulating a telecommuting policy, it saves them leased floor space, which ultimately translates into money saved.

1) Increased Employee Productivity. While bosses may think otherwise, studies have shown that employees are actually more productive working at home. Psychologically speaking, this is because employees are grateful they get to work from home and they tend to "prove" themselves in order to retain their telecommuting benefit.

If it can be done, working from home is the way to go so long as outside distractions such as children and pets don't interfere with your job duties.

Learn more about this author, Daniel J. Gansle.
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