2.5% of the U.S. employee workforce (3.1 million people, not including the self-employed or unpaid volunteers) considers home their primary place of work. it is also estimated that 20 to 30 million Americans work from home at least one day a week. – According to an analysis by TeleworkResearchNetwork.com
Attract and Retain Employees
Employees love the option to be able to work from home and this example says more than any stats we can present:
“For the majority of my IT career, I’ve been very fortunate and grateful for the various technologies Cisco provides that allow me to effectively manage and juggle my professional and personal life. As a first time father to a beautiful and precious one-year-old girl, the flexibility to work anytime and anywhere is a tremendous benefit! While any parent with kids knows no day or week is really typical, I’d like to share with you a typical week in the life of how collaborative/mobile technologies helps me stay productive while also retaining some level of sanity… The freedom and flexibility to integrate my work and personal life, through the use of collaboration/mobile technologies that Cisco offers is not only empowering but many times a godsend!”
Read on at cisco.com
Increases Productivity and Reduces Stress
The collaborative workplace is a must for today’s work environment, but we all need a break from the constant interruptions, distractions that we face at our workplaces. For focus and concentration, at times, working from home offers the best solution.
“Employees who telecommute the majority of the work week are more satisfied with their jobs compared to those working mostly in the office because working remotely alleviates more stress than it creates.” – A research study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and published by the National Communication Association
Kathryn Fonner, lead researcher for the study, explains, “Results of the study pointed to multiple reasons why telework is linked to high job satisfaction, namely that employees working remotely are, on average, shielded from much of the distracting and stressful aspects of the workplace, such as office politics, interruptions, constant meetings and information overload.”
Read more at entrepreneur.com
Saves Money
According to Fortune, 86 percent of Deloitte’s workers telecommute for at least 20 percent of the workweek.
Deloitte LLP offers most of its 45,000 employees nationwide the option to telecommute as many as five days a week, and has done so for 15 years. As leases came up for renewal, the consulting firm was able to reduce office space and energy costs by 30 percent. In fact, Deloitte saved $30 million in 2008 after redesigning facilities to accommodate mobile workers who don’t need permanent desks.
In 2009, Cisco announced the findings of its Teleworker Survey, an in-depth study of almost 2,000 company employees. The study, conducted to evaluate the social, economic and environmental impacts associated with telecommuting at Cisco, revealed that a majority of respondents experienced a significant increase in work-life flexibility, productivity and overall satisfaction as a result of their ability to work remotely.
Increased Productivity Due to Telecommuting Generates an Estimated $277 Million in Annual Savings for Company.
Cisco’s Next-Generation Workforce
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Cisco employees spend about 63 percent of their time communicating and collaborating.
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40 percent of Cisco employees say they are not located in the same city as their manager.
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The average Cisco employee now telecommutes 2.0 days per week.
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60 percent of the time saved by telecommuting is spent working and 40 percent is spent on personal time.
Read more at cisco.com
Environmentally Friendly
“According to a 2008 study conducted by Telework Exchange, a company that aims to increase telecommuting options for workers, around 9.7 billion gallons of gas and $38.2 billion can be saved each year, if only 53 percent of all white-collar workers telecommuted two days per week.
The study also found that 84 percent of Americans depend on their own means of transportation to travel to and from work. On average, these workers spend $2,052 on gas and 264 hours of travel time a year just on commuting alone.
Condensing a 40-hour work week into 4 days – such as the state of Utah and others have done with resounding success – means a 20 percent reduction of pollution, gas consumption and carbon footprint for all of those employees, not to mention cost savings for the company.”
– Source earth911.com
Reference targets:
shrm.org – Make Telecommuting Pay Off -> a very helpful article if you want to propose why telecommuting might be good for your company and employees.
Not for everyone and all orgs: As the wisdom goes around; things work well in moderation. Telecommuting might not be an option for all careers and at all times, but the benefits cannot be ignored. Supply stems from demand, and the employees definitely want flexibility at work – telecommuting certainly ranks high.
