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New Working From Home Study Centers On COVID-19
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California offers the best internet cost for those looking to work from home but falls short on cybersecurity during these unsettling times.

With COVID-19 turning home into the workplace nationwide, the personal-finance website WalletHub on April 20 released its report on the ‘Best States for Working from Home,’ as well as accompanying videos, in order to highlight which areas are thriving and which are struggling in this pandemic economy.

For the full report, please visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/best-states-for-working-from-home/72801/.

To identify which states are most conducive to working from home, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 12 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of workers working from home before COVID-19 to internet cost and cybersecurity. Also considered were factors like how large and how crowded homes are in the state. Together, these metrics show how feasible working from home is in terms of cost, comfort and safety. Following are some highlights from the report along with a couple of ‘Q&A’ questions with WalletHub.

 

Working from Home in California (1=Best, 25=Avg.)

• 13th – Share of Population Working from Home (pre-COVID-19);

• 36th – Share of Potential Telecommuters;

• 12th – Households’ Internet Access;

• 31st – Average Home Square Footage;

• 50th – Cybersecurity;

• 45th – Average Retail Price of Electricity;

• 1st – Internet Cost.

 

What can people who have never worked from home before do to make the transition smooth?

“People who are working from home for the first time should treat it the same way as they would going to their place of work normally. They should continue to follow their daily work routine, just without the commute,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “It’s important for workers to be punctual and minimize the amount of distractions around them from things in their house that wouldn’t be at work, such as a TV. However, workers could consider getting a little extra sleep or having a better breakfast in the time they normally would have spent commuting.”

 

Should companies allow their employees to work from home?

“Yes, companies should allow their employees to work from home, if possible. Not only does that help to minimize virus transmission, but it also preserves jobs that might have otherwise been lost,” said Gonzalez. “Companies that can conduct their business online also have a better chance of staying afloat during the pandemic. In addition, while keeping employees on the payroll working from home may be hard on the company’s finances during the pandemic, the government is offering loans through the Paycheck Protection Program to help with that problem.”