At this writing, the Midwest—and, specifically, what is nowknown as “Chiberia”—isin the grip of a post-snowstorm spate of sub-zero days (and when Isay “sub,” I mean 30 to 40 degrees below zero) that has disruptedtransportation, closed schools and forced folks to stay home.

Luckily for me, Summit Networks has always been work-at-homefriendly, so right now I'm sitting in my living room, laptop on lapand cup of tea at hand, wearing sweatpants, heavy socks, a hoodieand several underlayers, with Ralph and Keaton The Dachshundscurled up next to me.

Not so long ago, most bosses expected their employees to beworking in the office; those that wouldn't or couldn't comply werewelcome to hit the bricks. Today, there's the cloud and mobile andsmartphones. There's also more than the usual amount of unusualweather, as well as a younger workforce that's accustomed to doingeverything in the virtual world. Who needs a long commute just toget to a work-sanctioned desk?

Not every business recognizes this reality, however. SharonEmek, president and CEO of WAHVE—the service that connectsseasoned insurance personnel to agencies needing outsourcedworkers—says that although WAHVE has more than 100 agency clientsusing at least one WAHVE, most of these agencies still don'tprovide the tools for staffers to work from home. “What a shame;they are losing so much productivity,” she says. “Imagine how mucheveryone would benefit if an employee could work from home to takecare of a sick child or because of bad weather. The agencywould not lose the productivity and the person would not have togive up a personal day. Everyone wins. I believeemployees would be so grateful and view it as a reason to not leavethe agency. The flexibility to work from home periodically fora good reason is worth more than a small raise.”

So are independent agency owners in general more resistant toallowing employees to work at home? Sharon thought that might bethe case. Because agency owners are older than business owners inother industries, they may not be comfortable with a virtualworkplace—even though agency principals are frequently out of theoffice themselves, visiting clients and prospects. In fact,insurance agency work, more than that of other industries, lendsitself to being accomplished remotely. “Much of the work isprocess-intense and in a paperless environment, can be doneanywhere,” she says. “Checking policies, quoting on the carriersystems or preparing applications does not require sitting in acubicle in the office.”

However, this perception seems to be changing—and will probablychange even more as the average agency owner skews younger. MadelynFlannagan, vice president of agent development, education andresearch for the Big I, citing the 2012 Agency Universe Study, notes that telework isbecoming an accepted norm in most agencies, even small ones. Amongindependent agencies of all sizes, a third have one or moreemployees who work partly in the office and partly remotely, andone-eighth of them have one or more employees who work remotelyfull time. “With VPNs and mobile apps, employees can workeffectively anywhere,” she says. Flanagan adds that it can't bedetermined whether this represents an increase because the 2012study was the first time the question was posed.

Although I wholeheartedly support this trend, and ordinarilywould chide those Luddites who won't let their employees workremotely, I'm actually feeling a little cabin feverish myself.Between the snow and the deep freeze, I've been stuck within thesewalls with my own thoughts for the past four days. I'm usually kindof a homebody, but even I have my limits.

So even though the weather reports are predicting thattomorrow's high will top out at 15, the fact that it's expected tobe in the plus numbers is good enough for me: I'm going into theoffice.

Otherwise you may find me at home in front of a laptop, typingover and over:

All work and no play makes Laura a dull girl.

All work and no play makes Laura a dull girl.

All work and no play makes Laura a dull girl.