Growing percentage of Clark County residents work from residence

The percentage of people who work from home is about twice as much as the combined percentage of people who commute by walking, biking or taking public transportation.

Regional economist Scott Bailey said he expects the number of people working from home will continue to grow. Clark County supports a relatively wide variety of industries, from technology to finance to corporate headquarters.

“I expect that would lend itself to more people working from home at least some of the time,” said Bailey, who works for the state Employment Security Department.

Reliable internet access and conferencing tools like Skype make it easier than ever to forgo a commute.

Buckner knows all too well how hairy commutes in the Portland metro area can get. She used to work at Providence Milwaukie (Ore.) Hospital. Over time, she learned various methods to sidestep traffic. One of those methods was leaving early in the morning and returning home midafternoon, which didn’t really work when Providence employees needed help with data problems outside those hours, and it didn’t work well for her family.

On Thursday morning, she had a medical appointment at Providence in Portland. The drive there, which is about halfway to Milwaukie, Ore., took about 45 minutes.

“It just sucks up your day,” she said.

Now, she goes into the office about once per quarter.

Unbearable commutes

Rosalie Oekerman had a similar situation. Her commute from Vancouver to Beaverton, Ore., wasn’t a distance problem; door to door it was just 15 miles. As traffic congestion worsened her morning commute grew to an hour and evenings took one to two hours, sometimes an unbearable three hours.

For the last 1 1/2 years, she’s worked from a home office. Working remotely means no closet full of work clothes, no Oregon income tax, less wear and tear on her car, regaining the ability to make appointments anytime during the day — and with no commute, she got back three to four hours of her day.

Mean travel time to work has risen from 25.2 minutes in 2007 to 27.2 minutes in 2017, according to the American Community Survey.

While the number of people crossing into Oregon for work continues to grow — because the overall population is growing — they represent a smaller percentage of the workforce. The percentage of Clark County residents who worked outside of the state was 32 percent in 2007 but fell to 28.8 percent by 2017, suggesting people are finding local career opportunities and/or getting sick of the slog to Oregon. (By comparison, just 3.7 percent of Multnomah County, Ore., workers worked outside of Oregon in 2017.)

According to the Census, the vast majority of people who work from home are in management, business, science, arts, sales or office occupations. The occupational makeup of an area is the biggest factor influencing the number of people who work from home, Bailey said. In neighboring Cowlitz County, for instance, which has more manufacturing jobs and fewer professional jobs, just 3.5 percent of people worked from home in 2017.

In industries such as manufacturing, retail and food service, working from home just doesn’t, well, work.

Other jobs may lend themselves to working from home some of the time.

Efficiency boost

Bill Schmidt, an internal auditor for the Port of Portland, said the port has been proactive with flexible schedules and telecommuting for employees to boost efficiency and morale.

Schmidt lives in east Vancouver and has worked from home on Fridays for the past decade. When he goes into the office, which is located on top of the long-term parking garage at Portland International Airport, he gets there earlier and avoids the bulk of heavy traffic.

According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, there is typically less commuting traffic on Fridays and Mondays, though a crash or stall can change that. There are many things that result in people traveling more or less, and WSDOT has not done any specific study of telecommuting. The agency analyzes traffic growth data to inform decision-making for future work.

The recent changes on state Highway 500, where traffic lights were removed and two intersections became right-in/right-out interchanges, were based off of traffic data, said WSDOT spokeswoman Tamara Greenwell.

“We’re always looking at operational improvements,” she said.

Greenwell was, coincidentally, working from home when she initially called back The Columbian to answer questions. (She typically works from her dining room table.) WSDOT has allowed telecommuting for eligible workers since 1994. Statewide, 12 percent of eligible workers are signed up to work remotely.

“Technology provides us more flexibility with where we’re able to do our work from,” Greenwell said.

She said this can be beneficial if a worker wanted to work in between meetings without driving across town or work from home during a winter storm. Perhaps an employee schedules in-person meetings for one day and works remotely another day. Employees still have to check in with their supervisor to ensure work is getting done, Greenwell said. Some employees work nine nine-hour days, resulting in a three-day weekend every other week, while others work four 10-hour shifts every week.

“It makes us more competitive in hiring qualified people,” Greenwell said, adding that those employees are more satisfied in their work. “It is just great for folks with families.”

State goal

Telecommuting is a component of Gov. Jay Inslee’s 2016 executive order on “building a modern work environment.” The order mandates state agencies support “mobility, including telework and flexible work hours, while maintaining or improving business operations and customer service.” Working remotely is one way to reduce commute trips, traffic and emissions.

One of Clark County’s larger employers, Banfield Pet Hospital, gives about 75 percent of the 700 associates at its east Vancouver headquarters the option to work remotely. Arrangements are determined on an individual basis and range from periodic work-from-home days to full-time remote working.

“In response to the ever-changing workforce and increased desire for flexibility and work-life balance, we continue to put the health and well-being of our associates first — and invest in technology that enables remote work environments for our headquarters-based associates,” said Stephanie Neuvirth, senior vice president of people and organization at Banfield.

Jenna Baumchen, senior manager of talent acquisition programs at Banfield, said the ability to work from home helps her stay connected with her daughter while remaining productive and engaged with her team at the office. The company uses Skype for Business so people can dial into meetings, share presentations and otherwise keep in touch.

“After 14 years with the practice, a large part of what has enabled me to stay is the ability to work from home. It’s made it possible for me to be a working mother successfully,” Baumchen said.

View from the homefront

We asked to talk with Columbian readers who work from home about what it’s like. Here are some of their responses.

• • •

Before working remotely in Vancouver, William Page worked at National Instruments’ Austin, Texas, office. His nine-mile commute took 40 to 45 minutes each way and cost about $20 per week in tolls. “I don’t miss that in the slightest,” he wrote. “All the time I don’t spend commuting is time I’m able to spend with my family.” That includes having lunch with his wife every day. Page takes part in a work-from-home discussion group that shares tips on topics ranging from office equipment to working effectively to troubleshooting network problems. Still, he wrote, working from home can be career limiting, isolating and it’s easy to work outside regular hours.

• • •

Ally Ross handles technical support for Mainpine Inc. out of the guest bedroom of her Camas home. Her cat, Obie Wan Katobi, often hangs out in the room with her. “The advantages of working from home are definitely the lack of commute. I do not miss having to drive in snow or ice to get across town to an office! The disadvantages of working from home are that I don’t ever see my coworkers, so I miss having that office rapport you get with having colleagues you see on a daily basis,” she wrote. She previously commuted to Hillsboro, Ore., when she worked for Netflix.

• • •

Vicki Koss is a systems analyst in Cambia Health Solution’s IT department. She works from her Vancouver home but previously commuted to downtown Portland using C-Tran. In 1998 she could get to the office in about 35 minutes and home in about 45 minutes. By 2011, her average commute time was an hour to work and 1½ hours home. “There is no way I will go back to commuting into Portland,” she wrote. “Personally I believe working from home could be a real boon for rural areas if they had reliable high-speed internet. You can live wherever you want to and have a quality, high-paying job.”

• • •

Camas resident Ron Dunham began working from home for a Los Angeles-based company in 1986, so he’s seen technology evolve to make working from home easier. When he was commuting decades ago, he didn’t get to spend as much time with his daughters. Now, he gets to walk his granddaughter to school every day.

• • •

After living in Illinois his entire life, Dan Vander Ploeg moved to Vancouver with his husband last year. He didn’t, however, leave his longtime technology worker position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “I work regular office hours, but working from home gives me more flexibility to deal with things that come up during those hours. And, I can make up any missed hours later in the day. My work environment is quiet and has few distractions, so I can really get into the flow of work without being disturbed,” Vander Ploeg wrote. He added that he has to get out of the house sometimes. “I could spend a couple of days getting no further out of the house than to the mailbox at the end of the driveway, and that’s not healthy physically or socially.”

• • •

Tim Knight, of Woodland, is part of a two-person team. Working from home means there’s no need for a second car, he can take care of his dog, Leia, during the day, do occasional chores and work while traveling so long as there is internet. “If I was offered a job that I had to commute to (especially if it was in Portland), it would have to be at least $15,000 more per year, and I would have to think very hard about it,” he wrote. “This is by far the best working arrangement I’ve ever had and it would be so sad to have to go into an office ever again.”

• • •

Artist Sue Clancy works from her home in Vancouver. “My daily commute, down the hall of my house, is occasionally congested by a tabby cat and a miniature long-haired dachshund. A co-commuter in this busy hall is my wife,” she wrote.

• • •

Ray Norman recently retired after working out of his home for 31 years. “The one-minute commute was great as I could spend my working time working and not stuck in traffic. The flexibility of being able to pick up a child from school or run an errand was great. Computer and communications technologies were instrumental enablers in my ability to work from home,” he wrote. He added that the setup came with downsides: distractions, loneliness and the tendency to become a workaholic. “Working from home requires discipline. A room dedicated to only work was a requirement for me. I wore a coat and tie the first few years of working at home to give me that mental cue that I was ‘at work,’ ” he wrote.

• • •

Marcia Tomseth does technical support for a software company out of her Vancouver home; her boss is in Massachusetts and her company is headquartered in France. She said she’s gained more hours for work-life balance and can’t imagine going back to having a commute.

• • •

Getting a work-from-home job meant Megan King Hester and her husband could live wherever they wanted, which is how they ended up in Vancouver. She oversees 21 employees located all over the country, so being in an office isn’t critical. “It’s more important to have easy access to an airport,” she wrote, adding she emails, uses Skype and travels to assess her employees’ work. “Working from home allows me to be so much more efficient than I used to be in the office. Looking back, with the technology I have today, and the lack of interruptions I get in my home office, I feel I get twice as much done,” she wrote. “I’d say if you aren’t self-motivated, working from home may not be a good option for you. If you are, it’s a dream come true.”