Compare the Differences:
Commuting vs. Telecommuting

1. Getting ready for work ...

 • Get up at sunrise ... or earlier, rush to get dressed and stumble out the door.

• Sleep a little later if you like ... there's no real need for you to have to rush.

 • Gulp down a cup of coffee and a doughnut ... or maybe a bowl of cold cereal if you're really lucky.

• Relax. Take your time and have a leisurely, nutritious breakfast. Enjoy a second cup of coffee, if you like.

2. Getting to work ...

 • Hurry! Make sure you get to the office on time.

• No need to rush ... you're already there.

• Drive an hour or so in the stress of rush-hour traffic ... OR

• Nope, forget all that.

... wait in the rain for the bus; call a cab if you miss the bus ... OR

• None of that either.

 ... "car pool" it, and accomodate your schedule to the group.

 • Not a chance.

 • Sometimes miss a day's work if the weather's too bad to get to the office.

• Never happens in a virtual office, unless the power lines go down.

 • And then there are all those commuting costs:

• The what?

 — gas and oil and other car expenses;

• Nope. None of that.

— bus or taxi fares if your car isn't running;

• Save your money — you're already at work.

— outrageous parking fees in a downtown garage ... plus the stress of worrying about whether the parking lot guys will tear up your car or siphon out half of the gas in your tank;

• No parking fees, and no stress! Your car is sitting safely at home.

— and maybe increased auto insurance costs as your commuting distances lengthen;

 • Nope. Your car is in the low-cost "pleasure driving only" category.

— and oh yes, there's that occasional unexpected speeding ticket, as you hurry to be on time.

 • Telecommuters set their own schedules ... if you have a little self-discipline, you're always right on time.

4. Lunch Time!!!

 • At lunch, you can either brown bag it with a cold "mystery meat" sandwich ... OR risk your life at some overpriced fast-food joint near the office, choking down some greasy slop so you can rush back to the office before your 30-minute "lunch hour" is over. Hopefully you won't have to waste most of the afternoon coping with indigestion.

 • At BFC, we encourage our full-time workers to take a two-hour lunch break, to allow time to relax with a nutritious home-cooked meal.

It's better for your digestion, and it makes your afternoon work-time less stressful and much more efficient.

5. And finally, your workday is over ...

• At the end of your workday, you can now look forward to spending an hour or so fighting the afternoon rush-hour traffic and the brain-cell-popping stench of your neighbors' exhausts.

• While your neighbors are fighting rush-hour traffic, you're already relaxing with more enjoyable activities.

• Hopefully, if there aren't any accidents or major traffic jams (or you don't get mugged outside the subway station), you might make it home before dark.

• Your workday has been done since before they even started their homeward trek.

• Finally home, you try to relax and shake off the stress and fatigue of a hectic day, hoping you'll be able to stay awake long enough to spend a little "quality time" with the family ... if you can manage to remember their names after breathing all those exhaust fumes.

• Sometimes the only thing that keeps you going is the hope that someday you might find a better way.

• As you watch your neighbors drag themselves home one by one, you think about how much better your life has been since you started telecommuting.