Let It Rain, Say O.C.’s 151,000 Telecommuters

Barbara Schader awoke Wednesday, looked out the window and saw something that made her very happy: rain pouring from the sky as if it had no intention of quitting.

“I was absolutely elated that I didn’t have to go into work,” said Schader, 49, who, one day a week, telecommutes to her job at UCLA’s biomedical library in Westwood. “I got an e-mail from one of my colleagues saying that it took her 2 1/2 times longer to get to work this morning. She was dodging garbage cans in the middle of the street.”

About 12% of the estimated 1.26 million workers in Orange County--the highest percentage in Southern California--go to work at least occasionally via computer and telephone rather than by car, according to a recent survey. Most say that the arrangement suits them fine. But their situations are especially sweet, they say, on days like Wednesday when El Nino wreaks havoc.

In Schader’s case, the rain was a happy coincidence; she regularly stays home on Wednesdays rain or shine. But some workers have the option of letting the weather determine whether they drive or telecommute.

At the Unisys plant in Mission Viejo, 10% to 15% of the 900 employees--mostly computer programmers and software engineers--participate in a telecommuting program flexible enough to let them stay home on rainy days.

“It’s working very well,” said Mark Vaughan, the company’s human resource director. “We’ve got the kinds of occupations here that work in a flexible environment. We’re trying to promote it more.”

And at the Irvine law firm of Berger, Kahn, Shafton, Moss, Figler, Simon & Gladstone, lawyers for years have had the choice of working from their homes when storms rage.

“I’ve stayed home because of the weather quite often,” lawyer Julia Mouser said. “Sometimes you get up in the morning, do your project, transmit it in, and you’re done without ever having to get out of your bathrobe.”

According to a recent survey conducted by the Southern California Assn. of Governments, about 151,200 Orange County workers enjoy some variation of that experience at least occasionally. Other survey findings:

* Telecommuters average one day at home a week;

* Smaller companies are more likely to offer the option than larger ones;

* High-income workers are more likely to telecommute than those earning smaller salaries;

* More men than women work from their homes; and

* Although telecommuting is by far the most popular program an employer can create, it also is the least often offered.

On a good rainy day, however, those with the option of staying at home seem to cross all divisions of profession, income, gender and geography. And they share a common smugness when, like Schader, they experience the unspeakable joy of pulling up the covers while others are pulling on their raincoats.

Schader said she sent “a smug e-mail back” to her co-worker. “I just said that I was sooooo glad to be home.” Besides, she said, “I get twice as much done at home than I do at the office because I don’t have all the interruptions.”

Cappie Alverson, who runs a marketing research firm out of her Newport Beach home, admits she has “certainly gotten grief from all my friends.”

Telecommuting has its advantages in summer too.

“I like to rub it in on a nice sunny day when I can work on my patio overlooking the ocean, while they have to sit in their stuffy offices,” Alverson said.