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While commute times in Rochester aren't as bad as those in the Twin Cities, those working from home still gained a sizeable amount of their week back by working from home here in Minnesota.

That's the word, anyway, from a new survey by the good folks over at CoPilot who just published a new survey that looked at commute times before the coronavirus pandemic hit, and how they differ now that many Minnesotans are still working from home-- at might be for quite a while.

First, a little background. The survey noted that commute times had been increasing not only here in southeast Minnesota but all across the state and the country in the last decade. Here in Rochester, the survey said we spent an average of 2.9 hours a week commuting to and from work, for an average of 40.5 hours on the road and on the job per week.

Up until this spring, working from home was a concept that was around, but wasn't too widespread... until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Then, many workers were sent home to work-- and many are still there. And while there are drawbacks to working from home (like trying to work while keeping your kids focused on distance learning, or dealing with 'co-workers' who want to take a nap on your lap while you're trying to take part in another online Zoom or Microsoft Teams meeting), there is at least one benefit:

According to the survey, Rochester workers who are still working at home have gained back 7.2 percent of their workweek. That's not too bad, but it's a little below that national average of 10.4 percent. (Which makes sense, though, seeing as our commute times of 2.9 hours a week in southeast Minnesota were lower than the national average of 4.5 hours a week.) You can check out the methodology used and other statistics from the CoPilot survey HERE. Are you still working from home?

Listen to Curt St. John from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5
and from 2 to 6 p.m. on 103.9 The Doc

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