What could we do to most influence Telework/Telecommuting within our nation?
What could come from a serious commitment to our citizens and our planet by a full on Telecommuting Employment Initiaitive?
Employers who have employed telecommuting were also able to reap large savings by having to maintain smaller offices and reduce energy use.
Telecommuting can reduce costs, increase productivity, reduce oil consumption and energy costs, and create jobs, done in sufficient scale.
The Telework Research Network provided business modeling for community or business to employ Telework. A recent Kate Lister Study showed potentially Billions of savings, Millions of barrels of oil, & employees benefit from $3-10K work costs, with 73,000 less people being killed or injured in traffic related commuting.
- Businesses could save over $100 billion in real estate, electricity, employment & absenteeism.
- Eliminating 218 million barrels of oil, could save $17 billion- reducing Persian Gulf imports 28%
- Telecommuter Employee savings of $3,400-$10,500 in transportation & work-related costs
- More than 73,000 people could avoid traffic-related injury or death.
The elephant in the office is this. Its just too hard to do! Its hard to trust teleworkers, and theres not enough chartered territory to be a pioneer so we keep traditional employment and being the largest consumer of Oil in the World.
BUT OTHER COUNTRIES ARE DOING IT WELL? WHY NOT US? In a recent study, the Telework Research Network found found that nearly 40% of U.S. workers currently hold jobs that can be performed remotely. The United States has NOW the technology, the assets, the people, the business and the need, and yet we lag in Telecommuting because we have done insufficient work to encourage adoption. Despite that statistic, coupled, United States LAGS in an area they have every reason to lead in:
- United Kingdom over 5% of the population telecommute..
- Canada nearly 4% telecommute.
- The United States lags with only 2% of the population teleworking.
- U.S. Leads the world, with a staggering 22.6% of crude oil consumption
- For the last 16 years the U.S. has consumed over 17,000 barrels of crude oil/per year
- With a steady 2 year the U.S. Unemployment rate is 9.1-10%
- UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT is one of the few major U.S. employers that promotes teleworking, with nearly 5% of employees working virtually and plans to increase the overall number by 50%. The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) saved $11 million in new real estate expenses through telework and office hoteling.
- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: CITY WORKERS: LESS ENERGY /REAL ESTATE COSTS, LOWER ABSENTEE RATE. Telecommuters were absent two fewer days per year.The city realized an $8,000 savings per telecommuter per year on costs ranging from energy consumption to workers' compensation claims. Demand for work space reduced 30%.
- SUN MICROSYSTEMS EMPLOYEES WORLDWIDE LESS POWER, SIGNFICANT REAL ESTATE COSTS, EMPLOYEE SAVINGS: 56% of Suns Employees Telecommuted (nearly 19,000) Study participants averaged approximately 64 watts per hour at home, compared with 130 watts per hour at a an office-- thats saving over 5,400 kilowatt-hours a year! Employees benefit from reduced travel, saving more than $1,700 annually in gasoline and vehicle wear and tear. Sun saved about $24 million each year using the thin-client technology and $387 million in reduced office space and utility costs.
- IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY: British telecom calculated an overall increase of 20% through telecommuting while Dow Chemical found an increase of over 30%.
- Government continues to lead by example with its practice, AND incents with business environmental or local tax credits for creating jobs and reducing U.S. Carbon Footprint. Eliminates counterproductive hidden costs of Telecommuting.
- It is a national way of doing business, not just a metropolitan essential to combat rush hour fatigue and LOCAL pollution.
- "Location" and "Compensation" are open for jobs that telecommute, with Employers thinking of the right fit for the job, regardless of location, for telecommutable jobs, and the employees they hire are compensated and career pathed equal to the traditional workforce.
- Actual productivity and contributions matter more than "being seen" first at the coffee pot, or last one drinking coffee in the office at the end of the day.
- Broadband that is largely available and affordable, even to rural areas, horribly affected by unemployment are benefitted by "Mobile Work Centers" where people can come to retrain, retool, and learn more about the types of jobs that are available to a telecommuting workforce and perhaps test drive if telecommuting might work for them.
- Small Business Owners could consult or leverage Telework Centers to learn how they could leverage a teleworkforce for small projects, data conversion, all the way up to Business Development or hiring a "chief" level executive. Telework "coops" could actually allow business owners to band together to hire a percentage of the talent they need, say a Chief Technology Officer at $225,839, but they really dont need a 100% Chief Technology Officer, they really only need someone to dedicate 20% of their time-- they can co-op for the time and resource they need instead of buying more or less the talent they require, for a price they dont have to wait to hire.
- Telework Initiatives provide best practices, consulting and leadership strategies or direction on successful implementation for business of all sizes: Human Resources (Hiring, Compensation and Retention), Accounting, Information Technology Standardization, etc.
- Telecommuting is not viewed as a hidden or uncommunicated perk, but a way of doing business for people that qualify for the requirements of the job, and the telecommuting way of business.
Dawn C Khan - about.me | facebook | linkedin | twitter |
Think Green: Telework Employment Benefit$
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