A businessperson who works and communicates largely from home through the use of information and communications technologies, rather than traveling to a company office. The terms telecommuting and telework were coined in the early 1970s by Jack Nilles, who was working at the University of Southern California (USC) on projects aimed at eliminating rush-hour traffic by allowing employees to work closer to home or at home, linked to the central workplace via telecommunications networks. See also teleworker.