In 2013 Forbes magazine heralded the cultural juggernaut that is telecommuting, proclaiming that one in five Americans work from home and that the number was only getting bigger. Thirty million of us work from a home office at least once a week, and another 3 million never step into an office outside of their home, ever. A trend that began as an eco-friendly initiative in the energy-conscious 1970s and found renewed life with the widespread adoption of the personal computer 20 years later, is now as big a part of US labor culture as swiping office supplies.

But is this A Good Thing?

A new study from the United Nations International Labor Organization would have you believe that typing that weekly progress report in your bathrobe and slippers with a cat on your lap is an unappreciated source of stress and insomnia. The report examined the impact of our “telework” in light of the recent technological advancement in the workplace.

Although the ILO conceded that we were as or more productive in our jammies in the basement as we could be in neckties in a skyscraper, it cautions that working from home brings the risks of "longer working hours, higher work intensity and work-home interference." All three of the sub-groups studied – employees who regularly work at home, highly mobile people constantly working in different locations and those who split time between an office and another site – confessed to higher levels of stress and more bouts with insomnia than those who work full-time at the company office.

The study incorporated data from 10 European Union countries, along with Brazil, India, Japan, Argentina, and the United States.

Forty-one percent of the “highly mobile” employees studied reported a degree of stress that only 25 percent of the office workers felt. Forty-two percent of the crew who “always worked from home or multiple locations” suffered from insomnia, contrasted with only 29 percent of the office folks.

After analyzing the data, ILO concluded that two to three days of working from home per week was “the sweet spot” for most people, as sharing face-time with our co-workers contains certain healthy psychological benefits. The group also cited their support for a recent French labor statute that forbids employers from sending emails to workers outside of business hours.