Telecommuting comes of age.

In the aftermath of the January 17 earthquake, telecommuting has come of age in Southern California. More and more companies are turning to telecommuting not only to alleviate some employees' short-term commuting problems, but also to boost their work force's long-term job satisfaction and productivity.

Consider the success of the Valencia Corporate Telecommuting Center (CTC). The 30,000-square-foot CTC -- California's largest telecommuting center -- opened in September 1993 at 25709 Rye Canyon Road in Valencia, 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. The facility is part of the Valencia Industrial Center, the third largest office and industrial park in Los Angeles County with 9 million square-feet.

The CTC serves not only the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley (population: 170,000) but also the Lancaster and Palmdale areas where many residents must make long freeway commutes to more centrally located jobs.

At the time of the earthquake, CareAmerica Health Plans had leased 5,000 square-feet at the CTC. The remaining 25,000 square-feet was vacant.

Within weeks of the earthquake, the CTC was fully leased. New tenants include Great Western, Pacific Bell, and CIGNA.

So many other companies want telecommuting space in Valencia that The Newhall Land and Farming Company, the developer of the CTC, is now considering an expansion of the facility. Newhall Land, which is building the new town of Valencia, conceived and created the CTC in partnership with Ralph G. Ezell of Comsul, Ltd. and Stephen F. Valenziano of Langdon Rieder.

"A telecommuting center like the Valencia CTC usually has three characteristics," notes James S. Backer, vice president of industrial and commercial marketing for Newhall Land. "First, employees work at a location relatively close to their homes. Second, they rely on computers, fax machines, modems, and remote network servers which enable users to connect to the regular office over regular telephone lines. Third, employees typically work part time at a telecommuting center. The rest of the time, they go to their regular office."

Southern California is the nation's leader in telecommuting. The reasons include the region's large size, difficult traffic, and smog problems, plus the local business community's longstanding tradition of innovation and trendsetting. According to the Southern California Telecommuting Advisory Council, greater Los Angeles has an estimated 600,000 telecommuters, a figure which has been growing at the rate of 20% a year in recent years. That figure, the Council estimates, should rise to 1.5 million by the year 2000. Many employees like telecommuting, because it shortens their drive to work and gives them more time for their families and hobbies. Companies reap net savings of $8,000 to $9,000 a year per employee, notes the Council, due to greater productivity and lessened turnover. The CTC not only offers corporations state-of-the-art telecommuting suites, but also provides business interruption recovery space and services for tenants whose main or subsidiary offices have been damaged by earthquake, fire, flood, or other local calamity.

To serve its telecommuting tenants, the CTC provides fully divided and secure corporate suites leased at a base monthly rate for a period ranging from 12 months to several years. Other basic CTC services include utilities, use of shared conference rooms and common areas, and ample free parking.

Pacific Bell has wired the building for voice and data networking systems, and it has installed fiber optics to accommodate high-speed, high-capacity telecommunications needs. Other services available at additional cost include furniture, LAN equipment, Pacific Bell video conferencing, voice mail, and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), a telephone line that divides into three channels for simultaneous voice, video, and data communications.

Through its business recovery function, the CTC provides on-demand expanded technological support and services. In an emergency, a tenant can expand its space and technological capabilities to a predetermined level within 24 hours or less. The business recovery service can be part of the monthly operations agreement for telecommuting tenants.

"The CTC is a unique facility," says Thomas L. Lee, chairman of The Newhall Land and Farming Company. "First, because it is the largest telecommuting center in California -- 30,000 square-feet compared to 2,500 to 5,000 square-feet for most existing complexes. Second, the CTC serves two different yet complimentary functions -- telecommuting and business recovery -- something that no other California center offers. Finally, the CTC, which is privately sponsored, supports the changing needs of corporations in a metropolitan setting like greater Los Angeles."

Says Gene Sherman, vice president of external affairs at Pacific Bell, "It is no longer practical or productive to use freeways as our only means of transportation when the electronic highway offers a faster and environmentally more sensitive alternative. More than two-thirds of employed Santa Clarita Valley residents must leave the community for work and drive to jobs elsewhere in greater Los Angeles. Through the CTC, businesses can use the power of telecommunications and computing to move the work, instead of the workers."

CareAmerica Health Plans, headquartered in Chatsworth and the CTC's first tenant, is one of the fastest growing health plans in Southern California. "About 30% of the employees at our Chatsworth campus commute more than 25 miles to work every day," says Arthur M. Southam, M.D., president and chief executive officer for CareAmerica Health Plans. "We believe that a telecommuting facility such as CTC offers advantages for our employees, the environment, and our organization."

"For example, the CTC will decrease drive time for our telecommuters, giving them more personal time off the job and improving their productivity while on the job," he notes. "According to studies we have read, productivity among telecommuters increases by 15% on average. Also, having employees work from a telecommuting facility, rather than from their homes, allows CareAmerica to consolidate its computer and telecommunications needs in one spot, and it facilitates supervision of the day-to-day work. Finally, telecommuting enables our organization to meet air quality standards set for all Los Angeles area companies by the Air Quality Management District."

Considering the business community's enthusiastic response to the CTC, Thomas L. Lee foresees a bright future for telecommuting. "As the earthquake has demonstrated, telecommuting is a business strategy whose time has come," he notes. "The CTC is the first of these large-scale facilities to serve our local communities but definitely not the last."

James S. Backer is the marketing director of The Newhall Land and Farming Company.