Would you give up your spouse in order to telecommute?

TeamViewer Survey: Americans want to Telecommute ~ Majority believe they would be more productive telecommuting than at the office

Some would even give up their spouse in order to telecommute every day

TeamViewer®, one of the world’s most popular providers of remote control and online meetings software, today announced the findings of its survey of over 2,500 American adults aged 18 and older, conducted online by Harris Interactive in January. The survey, which was drafted based on TeamViewer’s experience in remote access to the workplace, found that most Americans believe that more people want the option to telecommute (62%) with an overwhelming percentage (83%) believing that telecommuting is on the rise. Specifically, the survey found that Americans believe:

• Smartphones and tablets are increasing the use of telecommuting – 53%

• Access to telecommuting is increasing – 49%

• Telecommuting is getting easier – 49%

• The use of telecommuting is increasing in small businesses – 30%

When asked about what Americans believe their own behavior would be as a telecommuter versus working in an office every day, more than half (54%) said they would be at least somewhat more productive and almost a third (32%) said they would even be more or much more productive.

As more Americans discover the ability to telecommute, a surprising number of them admit they would be willing to make sacrifices in order to get the option to do so. Top items Americans say they would be willing to give up include:

• Social media – 34%

• Texting – 30%

• Chocolate – 29%

• Smartphone – 25%

• Shopping – 20%

• A salary increase – 17%

• Half of vacation days – 15%

Some even admitted to be willing to forgo daily showers (12%). Interestingly, women were more willing give up their daily shower than men (14% vs. 10%, respectively). A brave few said they would even be willing to give up their spouse (5%) – a percentage that was fairly consistent across age groups and genders, however not across regions: people in the West were significantly more like to say they would give up their spouse (7%) in order to telecommute than people in the Midwest (2%).

“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. “TeamViewer gives people the freedom to work from anywhere at any time and on any device.”

About TeamViewer

Founded in 2005, TeamViewer is fully focused on the development and distribution of high-end solutions for online communication and collaboration. Available in over 30 languages, TeamViewer is one of the world’s most popular providers of remote control and online meetings software. More information: www.teamviewer.com

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Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of TeamViewer from January 12-16, 2012 among 2,630 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Tom Carpenter at tom.carpenter@grayling.com.