For the last year the commute time between Susan Shepherd's Kailua home and her office has been considerably reduced. Each morning, instead of fighting traffic, she simply walks a few steps from her bedroom to her home office at the other end of the house. Shepherd, a vice president at Comtel, a Honolulu-based communication technology company, couldn't be happier.

Just from the commute alone she saves seven to eight hours a week—a full workday. “;It's quiet at home and I'm more productive,”; says Shepherd, “;because I'm not distracted by hustle and bustle of the office.”;

According to Comtel founder Lou Darnell, one-third of his company's 15 employees telecommute. Darnell says that the technology has advanced to the point where employees can easily collaborate, share documents and have phone access from anywhere in the world. One of Comtel's employees even telecommutes from Toronto.

I believe it's high time we look to telework as an environmental and traffic solution for the Aloha State. Even if we build an elevated or light rail transit, it will be years until it comes online. In the meantime, traffic will only get worse. If we can get even a small percentage of state government workers or staff from some of our larger companies off the road, it will go a long way to unclog the freeways.

The good news is that some entities are moving forward.

The City and County of Honolulu is setting up videoconferencing gear at fire and police headquarters and substations where large numbers of first responders can congregate virtually instead of driving to meetings. Smaller organizations are in a more advanced state. Mark Service, who runs Honolulu-based Akamai Practice Management, a firm that provides administrative services to physicians, says that two-thirds of his 38 employees telecommute daily from home or the company's Kapolei office. It's not just a matter of saving them the hassle of driving downtown, says Service. “;We couldn't hire them if they had to drive to town.”;

Other local outfits such as HEMIC, an insurance company; Bendet, Fidell, Sakai and Lee, a Honolulu law firm; and the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii all have employees who telecommute regularly.

These are just a few examples of firms that deploy teleworkers, but I sense the movement is growing.

Shepherd says the benefits of working out of her home are manifold. At 5 p.m. she often takes a break by walking down Kailua Beach. She says, “;I'm in better shape than when I worked downtown. I have more time to exercise and have lost weight. My blood pressure and cholesterol have never been better.”;