Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 18, 1993                   TAG: 9306180153
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

HOME WORKERS DON'T GOOF OFF

The Small Business Administration report looked at growing trends toward home-based businesses and "telecommuting," or doing office work at home during normal business hours.

A home office, complete with computer, printer, telephone and fax costs about $5,000. Thus, Americans are increasingly expected to start home-based businesses or work from home, according to Joanne Pratt, a management consultant who prepared the report for the SBA.

"One of the things this research has done is dispelled a lot of myths about why people can't work at home," Pratt told a briefing Thursday.

For example, they are no more likely than others to have children at home, according to the report, "Myths and Realities of Working at Home."

And employees do not care for their children on telecommuting days, Pratt said.

Work patterns among telecommuters and nontelecommuters are very similar. On average, men spend just over an hour and women just under an hour on lunch, coffee breaks and relaxing during the work day, Pratt found.

Telecommuters also have positive attitudes toward their work and do not feel isolated from their peers, the report found. It said they work an average of six to eight hours a week at home.

The report did not measure productivity, but Pratt said her research has found that telecommuters are about 20 percent more productive. She said 33 percent of the work force spends some time telecommuting.

The number of home-based businesses grew from 3.6 million in 1985 to more than 5.6 million in 1991, according to the report.

The report was based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Longitudinal Study.