SAN FRANCISCO: Anna Morris claims to be the world's first "virtual concierge." For the past three months, her Silicon Valley employer, the Westin Hotel of Santa Clara, has allowed the 33-year-old mother of two small children to work from the comfort of her home and avoid a 130km commute each way that made her life miserable.

Real estate near Morris' office is some of the most expensive in the world, and Morris can not afford to live anywhere near it.

But now, thanks to a $50,000 video-conferencing system, she pops up at 7:00 am every morning on a screen, strategically located behind the hotel lobby's concierge desk, to help guests find their way to the airport or book tickets for a play. Her salary has not changed, and she saves $250 a month in gas.

Carefully made up and elegantly dressed, Morris admits that, behind the big TV screen, she wears slippers instead of high heels.

"The reason it is possible for me to telecommute is that I work in the heart of Silicon Valley," she says. "The hotel guests are pleased that the hotel is doing something high-tech."

For the camera, one wall of her home office matches those of the hotel lobby, creating the illusion that Morris is in the room. Some guests call her "Virtual Anna."

Americans all over the country dream of telecommuting, and employers in San Francisco and its environs, from the financial firm Charles Schwab to computer giant Sun Microsystems, seem eager to let them try.

According to John Challenger of Chicago-based outplacement firm Gray, Christmas and Challenger, between 13 million and 19 million Americans are now "teleworking."

"More and more companies are allowing people to telecommute because of the ubiquity of cell phones and laptops and wireless handheld devices," Challenger said.

"But I think in California people are more comfortable with the idea, because they have integrated technology into their lives."

Of 200 human resource executives recently surveyed by Gray, Christmas and Challenger, 62 per cent said that telecommuting could be used as a carrot to attract new employees or retain existing staff, and 43 per cent named it the biggest workplace trend in the new millennium.

"For me it was almost an act of desperation," says Morris explaining how she convinced her boss to let her work from home. "I was sick of waking up at 3:00 am to drop the kids at my mom's house before hitting the road at 4:30 to avoid traffic, and coming back at 8:00 every night just in time to kiss my kids good night," she says.

Magic Staff, a start-up in Berkeley, across the San Francisco Bay, understands the wonders of telecommuting.

"We want to make sure there are no geographical boundaries," says Joon Oh of Magic Staff, which likes to think of itself as "the first virtual staffing company."

"We match the worker and the customer, whether they are based in Iowa or California or India, have the work done, then have it approved, paid for and finally shipped to the customer," Oh says.

He admits it may take time to get people used to the idea of dealing with a virtual staff.

"One of the biggest things about remote staffing is that people sometimes feel alienated," he says.

But Challenger says that most workers will have to wait awhile before telecommuting becomes a part of everyday life.