Nationally, the roster of companies that endorse telecommuting includes heavyweights such as AT&T, Ernst & Young, Chiat/Day and even U.S. government agencies.

In Hawaii, my home state, more than 80 percent of businesses are sole proprietorships, many of them home-based businesses. And beyond home-based businesses, progressive businesses are taking a fresh look at their needs and experimenting with deconstructing the office. Nationally, the roster of companies that endorse telecommuting includes heavyweights such as AT&T, Ernst & Young, Chiat/Day and even U.S. government agencies.

Current technology makes it possible to link employees and the company with computers, modems and fax machines, helping them to stay efficient - and then some. Dun & Bradstreet says a telecommuting experiment with 400 employees meant an annual 30 percent increase in productivity.

Occupants of home offices need to accommodate the minimum requirements of their employers, as well as the existing conditions of their own homes. They almost need to recreate the main office's conditions - a full desk, good lighting, an ergonomic chair and the most current technology including phone, fax, copying, scanning and printing capabilities. Not to mention storage and filing space.

In the ‘90s, I was working on a project of five family homes in a large housing development. The project was in Taiwan, with an 18-hour time difference. When working in two different time zones, the workday expands to accommodate each location and work patterns. A home office offers a convenient alternative to long hours at the traditional office.

How about the home office that's open only once a week? I have a client who does the books and pays the bills for the family business from home. The kids are gone and they are downsizing, so they have just moved into a gorgeous, brand-new high-rise apartment with wireless computer access. Now they can bring out the laptop and work on the dining room table, but still need a printer, a filing system and drawers to keep supplies.

It's hard to find a good area in which to work comfortably and efficiently in a small home or apartment. And it's even more complicated because the home-office worker has to provide space for all of the working parts necessary for a properly outfitted office.

In the work place, an overnight guest isn't invading your cubicle to open a suitcase and hang up clothing. In the work place, you don't have to clean up your project so the family can use the table for dinner. So home-office occupants find that at times they spread out all over the house.

Today, developers are accommodating their floor plans to allow for home offices. They carve out areas under the stairs to make room for a desk or work space. As long as they provide for wireless or cable, plenty of electrical outlets and good lighting, the homeowner has at least a perch away from the living room and is not taking up a spare room.

Even if the furniture requirements are varied, there is no doubt that ever-miniaturizing technology is the biggest help to the home-office worker. Recently, I received an e-mail showing a computer system that resembled writing pens, and of comparable size. Apparently, the "pen" can project an image of a computer keyboard onto a tabletop, so you type on the image. And, when you turn the computer off you don't have to physically move anything aside to use the surface for another project.

Now, if we can just figure out how to have a paperless office, the filing and supplies storage problems will go away.  F+I

Liz Dreher Howard, FASID, is president of Howard Design Group. For more information, call 808-732-4915 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .