Over half of the staff in Maryland’s Department of Transportation works 1.3 days at home every week

Though remote work has increased substantially in the United States over the last five years, Maryland state employees are not teleworking as much as in other states. Its numbers pale in comparison to other states, such as its neighbor Virginia. Still, the Maryland Department of Transportation gives the example and is showing the other state agencies how telecommuting using remote desktop solutions can increase productivity and reduce costs.

According to recent statistics, the State Personnel Management System (leaving out the Maryland Department of Transportation) has over 43,000 employees, with 6,000 of them being eligible for remote working. Of these 6,000 only 581 actually worked from their homes, which means that just 1.3% of all the workers in the system have telecommuted.

These 581 telecommuters come from 19 different state agencies and, on average, have worked from their homes about 22 hours per month.

The statistics of the Maryland Department of Transportation are quite higher. The agency employs 315 workers with 197 of them being eligible to work remotely. Of these 197 employees, 101 have worked from the comfort of their homes, averaging 1.3 days per week.

One of such employees is Catherine Svoboda, who has been working remotely for the last ten years. When she telecommutes, Catherine Svoboda saves the two hours she spends on her way to and from work and is much more productive.

“I’m much more efficient. I get things done much faster,” she said to Maryland’s Gazette.Net.

A statement which is backed up by a Mack Global Consulting report, which shows a 27% increase in productivity among telecommuting employees.

Catherine Svoboda, among other workers, is now using remote desktop tools to access their office computers from their homes.

Remote desktop solutions, such as RHUB remote support appliance, are ranked among the best solutions for telecommuters. It is named as the Product of the Year by Government Computer News! The appliance allows employees to work from their homes directly on their office computers, having remote access to all the documents they might need to do their jobs.