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 nd telecommuting allows you to tackle household tasks that take up a lot of time but don't actually involve much work. Watching laundry spin in your washer or dryer is perfectly compatible with productive work. But between the washing step and the drying step comes a time-sensitive "put the wet clothing in the drier" phase. Taking just a few minutes off from work to do the swap lets you get the chore done efficiently, and leaves your actual leisure time free for exciting activities like leaving the house. Many recipes, similarly, involve considerable periods of simmering or roasting during which it's good to be around the house but you don't actually have to do anything. In a "work-then-shop-then-cook-then-eat" paradigm, it's challenging to eat anything that can't be made quickly. But if you can simmer while you work, then a lot of household labor can be accomplished with minimal reduction in professional output.

The fact that such practices remain officially taboo reflects how far we haven't come as a society from the days when we expected every full-time professional to be backstopped by a full-time homemaker.

More broadly the Wakefield survey suggests that employers may be missing a low-cost way to give workers something of value. Sixty-four percent of survey respondents who haven't worked remotely "identify at least one extremely popular perk or pleasure they'd be willing to give up in order to work from home just one day a week." The fundamental fact of the modern economy is that no matter how much technology advances or society's wealth improves, we don't add more hours to the day and we still need to sleep. Under the circumstances, tactics that help people save time are not only valuable but increasingly so with every passing year. Smart firms need to find ways to acknowledge that and let their employees have enough flexibility to manage their time effectively.