A 15-second commute from the bedroom to a home office will do more than raise employees’ morale — it’ll get more work out of them in less time.

Sure, not needing to deal with a daily commute makes employees happy, and when workers are happy, they work harder.

But just how much harder?

A recent “flexible work arrangement” by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts found an answer — the productivity of 200 at-home workers rose 20%, while only two employees experienced performance issues. To put that into perspective, BCBS netted an extra 320 hours of productive work done during the week. That’s like having an extra 40 unpaid, full-time employees on its Finance staff.

These numbers could result from the “happiness” factor, but odds are good it’s actually due to increased focus. Assuming employees don’t have errands to run, laundry to wash, etc., their at-home office keeps them away from office distractions.

Is talking about the latest sports pool or how hideous Jan’s new shoes are conducive to getting work done? Not at all. Does that mean employees don’t talk about it? Not at all. But when staff members are at home, they’ll probably be distracted by other employees only when there’s important business to discuss — not to chat about who was kicked off on last night’s American Idol. It’ll keep people focused on work instead of launching them into a conversation every time someone stops by.

And that leads to the major stumbling block of telecommuting — it’s great for boosting productivity, but it can cut down on a vital source of communication.

In our third (and last) installment, we’ll tackle this and other shortcomings that Finance needs to consider before saying “Bye bye!” to the daily commute.

Tags: Benefits, communication, Productivity, telecommuting