Working from home represents a growing business and lifestyle trend in Sonoma County
Before his son Maverick was born two weeks ago, business owner Andrew Meyer, 34, had all the space he needed for his home office in the second bedroom of the west Santa Rosa duplex he shares with his wife Stephanie - an interior designer who also works from home.
Stephanie, 33, kept her office in the kitchen/dining room, while Meyer’s two computers now are surrounded by a crib, rocking chair and nursery wall decorations.
“I have a little stand-up desk up against the side of the room and the nursery is around that,” he said. “I get some grief for not giving up the office.”
Meyer, who co-owns a Santa Rosa company that operates several Northern California senior living centers, said he hopes to continue doing business remotely from his son’s nursery. Stephanie will juggle caring for their baby, while running her Aesthete Vagabond Co. from another room.
That may be easier said than done.
During Maverick’s frequent daytime naps, the Meyers are hoping to turn on their computers, answer emails, pore over budgets and make the quietest of phone calls. The two millennials are among an estimated more than 10,000 Sonoma County residents who work from home, a segment of the workforce that has grown significantly in the past 10 to 15 years. The growing trend is driven by changing work and lifestyle preferences, advanced communication technology, and a dearth of affordable housing in one of the country’s hottest job markets.
From 2005 to 2017, the number of county residents who work full-time from home went from 7,276 to 10,623, a 46% increase, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by Apartment List, an online marketplace connecting renters with apartment listings. Nationally, the number of people working at home increased by 76% during that period.
Chris Salviati, a housing economist for Apartment List, said the trend is mirrored by a simultaneous increase during the same 12-year period in “super commuters” - those who commute 90 minutes or more each way to their jobs. Though some of the county’s estimated 8,150 super commuters also may be working one day or more weekly from home, those who work from home full-time have for the most part abandoned the daily drudgery of getting into a car, bus or train to get to work.
“We expect that trend to continue into the future as technology makes it a lot easier for people to work from home,” Salviati said.
It’s not surprising that the Bay Area, both a hub for finance, software and technology jobs and one of the nation’s most expensive places to live, has a plethora of people who work from home, he said. Working from home, like super commuting, is in many ways a response to those two forces.
“It is extremely difficult to find affordable housing close to where the job centers are,” Salviati said. “Working remotely may allow you to live in a place that is more affordable.”
For some, the circumstances that led to a home office began with a major change in the office building.
For years, Wayne Wilson, 64, commuted to his advisory technical consultant job in San Francisco from his home just off Adobe Road on the east side of Petaluma. Six or seven years ago, Wilson’s employer, a large software maker headquartered in Houston, moved its San Francisco offices to Pleasanton.
Many of his co-workers already lived in the East Bay so the move was ideal. But for Wilson, who grew up in the North Bay, it would have meant an even longer commute, something he said he could not bear.
“I informed them that I would have to start working from home or have to leave the company,” Wilson said.
“The job that I’m doing is unique enough and I’m well thought of enough they they wanted to keep me on.”
The biggest challenge to setting up a home office, he said, was finding adequate broadband internet access where he lives. Video conferencing using web utilities such as Webex and Skype mean that he doesn’t have to be face-to-face with his customers. He spends 90 percent of his work time in his home office, a converted bedroom with a desk, multiple computers and two phone lines.
The background sound in his office is often his dog snoring under the desk. Although the benefits are many, Wilson said the virtual world is in some ways a colder place. He misses personal interaction with clients and colleagues, and the friendships that sometimes develop from business relationships.
“This loss of the personal relationships that grow out of teamwork even means that I will probably have to plan my own retirement party,” Wilson wrote in an email. “No big luncheon with my co-workers. No presentation of the proverbial gold watch. I’m at home.”
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