There's Been A Huge Shift Towards Working From Home Since The 90s

The debate over the benefits and pitfalls of working from home has been ignited by Yahoo's decision to end its flexible work program, followed by a similar move from Best Buy.

What can't be denied is that, enabled by technology and changes in management thinking, more and more people are choosing to spend some or all of their time working away from the office.

According to the Census Bureau, there was a 35 percent increase in the number of people that work at least one day at home per week from 1997 to 2010. And it's not hard to imagine, with the widespread adaptation of mobile technology and cloud-based tools, that the number hasn't increased in the past two years.

Also, workers that mix at home at on-site work tend to make more money and work more hours than either fully on-site or at-home workers. That's one argument for flexibility.

The Census Bureau broke down their findings on remote work in this infographic: