Going Virtual
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Telework:
An Overview of Benefits
by
Judy Wolf
This
is a sidebar to the second
article in a multi-part series
on Going Virtual.
Employers
- Reduced real estate costs (rent, expansion, relocation)
- Increased productivity (studies show between 10-26% improvement)
- Reduced absenteeism (1999 Telework America National Survey showed absenteeism -- caused by illness, weather, personal reasons -- cost employers an average of $3,313 per year per non-teleworking employee. For teleworkers, the figure dropped to $1,227, saving employers an average of $2,086, or 63% per worker)
- Increased morale and employee satisfaction (according to Teletrips.com, overall teleworker employee satisfaction increased 10% over that of non-teleworkers)
- Reduced turnover and retention costs (according to Teletrips.com, teleworking improved retention of key employees by as much as 22%)
- Increased competitiveness (extended customer service hours, flexible recruitment tools, global hiring pool, decreased overhead, improved technology and communication)
- Improved customer service (employee morale has been shown to directly impact customer satisfaction, which in turn drives revenue)
- Greater potential employee market (teleworking provides a greater opportunity to seek employees in a wide geographic range, not to mention making it easier to meet ADA requirements by employing disabled and homebound individuals)
- Improved public relations and regulatory compliance (reductions in air pollution and employment opportunities for disabled applicants can create a "good neighbor" image that enhances business)
Employees
From the Canadian Telework Association web site:
- According to an April 2001 Mitel Networks survey conducted in the U.K., 30% of respondents would consider changing jobs, and 25% would take a cut in salary, in order to telework
- In a July 2002 survey by the Information Technology Association of America, 36% of registered voters would choose telecommuting over a pay raise
- Increased quality of life (work/life balance, improved family relations)
- Reduced stress levels
- Increased flexibility
- Reduced personal costs (commuting expenses, wardrobe and dry-cleaning costs, meals and snacks)
- Increased job satisfaction
Community
- Decreased air pollutants (according to Carol Browner, former administrator of the EPA, "If 10% of the nation's workforce telecommuted one day a week, we would avoid the frustration of driving 24.4 million miles, we'd breathe air with 12,963 tons less air pollution and we'd conserve more than 1.2 million gallons of fuel each week.")
- Reduced traffic congestion
- Reduced need for roadway construction and repair
- Safer roads (according to the Reason Public Policy Institute, January 2000, 350 lives were saved per year through reduced highway deaths as a result of telecommuting)
- Fewer latchkey kids and safer neighborhoods
- Reduced consumption of fossil fuels
Copyright (c) 2002 Judy Wolf
About
the Author:
Judy Wolf (www.judywolf.com)
is a world traveler, freelance writer, speaker, and whitewater kayak instructor.
She's taken numerous, extended solo journeys around the world, traveling
by foot, bus, jeep, camel, truck, boat, train, plane, elephant, and bicycle
to over 30 countries on five continents. She currently lives in upstate
New York with her husband and border collie, where she's working on a
book-length travel narrative about her most recent adventures…that is,
when she's not plunging off waterfalls or entertaining the dog.
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