Here's something that most people don't consider when they think of telework or telecommuting: the "greenest", safest, and most efficient way to travel to work every day is... not to. Working from your home saves money, requires less community resources in terms of roads and transportation, and eliminates the pollution of traveling to and from your job. And these are benefits valuable both to employees and employers.
The Benefits of Telework for Employees
Going green: When you get in your car to drive to work, it's difficult to understand how this seemingly simple action can do such harm to the environment. But Facet/Teletrips has reported that a one or two day per-week telecommute per worker would save 100 to 200 gallons of gasoline per year. That brings a single person's carbon emissions (the ones reported to cause global warming) down 1.5 to 5 tons a year, depending on the vehicle. To put it simply: teleworking only one or two days a week will eliminate from 7.5 to 25% of your carbon footprint.
Saving money: With gas prices skyrocketing, more and more employees are talking to their companies about teleworking to cut down on spending.
The Benefits of Telework for Employers
Employee morale and retention: Allowing your employees to telework is like giving them both a raise in pay and a cut in hours-- without requiring your company to spend an extra cent. On average, teleworking employees save anywhere from $2000 to $10,000 per year on travel, and cut a whole 160 hours of road-time from their lives annually. This helps keep employees happy, and saves money for companies in the long run as employee retention increases. This is especially visible with lower-paid employees, who find themselves leaving longer-distance jobs due to the costs of getting to work each day.
Disaster response: This is a benefit of telework that is experienced both by employers and employees. Employers who allow their workers to telework make their company less vulnerable to attack or any catastrophic event, as there are fewer employees present at any one time. In addition, any teleworking employees can easily communicate among themselves, with their loved ones, and to their company.
A good example of this took place during 9-11, when the value of telework was truly tested. At the time, the telephone system throughout New York was knocked out-- and the rest of the country's system was flooded. People didn't know if loved ones close to Ground Zero were dead or alive. But those with access to the Internet were able to get online and let their loved ones know their condition right away-- especially if they were teleworking from home.
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