USA Today reports on how more companies in the US are trying to help employees with transportation costs, or through other methods (ie: more telecommuting) in response to higher gas prices:

Employers are taking action as average national gas prices persist above $3 a gallon. Nearly 90% of employees drive to work, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Thirteen percent of companies offer transit subsidies, and 7% subsidize carpooling, according to a 2006 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management. Twenty-six percent allow telecommuting on a part-time basis.

The article also details workplace initiatives like providing a shared vehicle for limited employee use, flexible work schedules to help employees avoid peak rush-hour traffic and reimbursements for employees who carpool. Look to see these types of commute-friendly policy changes become more standard as commutes get longer and gas gets more expensive. Read More…

Jill Hart writes about five different ways to find a telecommuting job: newspapers, online (Job sites, Craigslist, watch out for scams - remember, you should never have to pay someone to get a job), post your resume online, cold-call local businesses, start a work-at-home business

Personally, I do not see much of a difference between lists like this, and guides on how to get any type of job. Although you may have luck searching for, finding and getting a telecommuting job, I think that your chances would be much better if by searching for a job that you like. While evaluating companies, be sure to think about whether this is the type of company that might allow or encourage telecommuting (ie: in technology, other employees telecommuting, seem to be following recent technology trends) or not (still using mainframe computers, old-fashioned). When interviewing, ask whether they are open to telecommuting, and make it clear that this is something that you would be interested in. However, be sure that you like the job and the company. If you go for a job where the only redeeming quality is working from home, and you don’t actually like the work, then you will probably not find telecommuting to be as good as you thought, and you will probably be looking for a new job sooner rather than later.

Stephanie writes about her top 9 reasons for working at home:

1. Save on Gas
2. No Commute
3. More Flexible Schedule (watch out that this doesn’t become a crutch for you - you still have to be disciplined about your work schedule and habits in order to be successful)
4. No Boss Staring Down Your Shoulder (as Stephanie notes, this is only a good thing if you can be productive without the presence of your boss)
5. More Family Time
6. Simpler Wardrobe (I think that this depends on what industry you are in and what you would have worn had you gone into the office. Personally, I wear the same thing at home as I would in the office, and I think that it is important not to work in your pajamas, in order to get into the right mindset)
7. The ability to follow your dreams (if you are running a business from home…though if you are, then I guess you aren’t really telecommuting, are you?)
8. Save on Lunch (if you would eat out often at work and don’t order take out at home, this can be a big hidden savings)
9. Flexibility on office setup (this can also be a negative, as the office might have someone in charge of making sure that office supplies are stocked, light bulbs are in, etc - at home it’s all up to you)

InsideRecuiting has published an article giving lots of insight into how companies are relating to telecommuting:

Workers are affected negatively by long commutes

• New survey by the Urban Land Institute: 69% of the larger companies (those with 100-plus employees) believe a long commute time increases employee stress, but 55% reported a lack of affordable housing near their location
• 76% of workers between 18 and 34 would be at least somewhat likely to make a lateral employment move in exchange for a shorter commute (Harris Interactive)

Telecommuting trends

• 45% of the larger companies offer flextime to reduce commuting time, but just 21% offer telecommuting
• 29% of companies say they plan to use a telecommuting program and will allow workers to telecommute every day, and 16% will allow workers to telecommute one or two days a week. Another 17% said they would consider it, if enough employees requested the option (EE)
• Korn/Ferry survey of 1,320 executives indicated that 61% believe telecommuters are less likely to be promoted, compared to their on-site colleagues. Still, 48% said they would consider a telecommuting arrangement

Impact on Environment, Finance

• IBM (25% of 300,000 workers telecommute) estimates that they save $700 million annually because of telecommuting
• Cisco has cut travel by 20% a year due to videoconferencing (two million miles of travel saved, CO₂ emissions lowered by approximately 10%)
• Sun has flexible policies regarding telework, offers local “drop-in centers” which save employees 90 minutes of commuting time ($63 million and 29,000 tons of CO₂ emissions saved annually)

Read more: Honk If Your Company Loves Telecommuting