Teleworking, broadly defined, is the ability to work from a home or remote location for all or part of the work week.
During these tough economic times, it is imperative that companies look for innovative ways to keep expenses down and find alternative ways to stay profitable. Enabling employee mobility can result in increased employee flexibility and retention, cost savings, environmental benefits, and government incentives or mandates.
More than 20 million people work from home at least once a week, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In recent years, improvements in technologies have led to a wider adoption of teleworking as an accepted work situation. Technology advances, such as high-speed Internet, IP telephony, e-mail, instant messaging, Web conferencing and videoconferencing, can streamline communications and collaboration among remote workers.
Increase employee productivity
One of the largest advantages of allowing employees to work from remote locations is improved productivity. Remote workers are able to utilize time that they would otherwise spend commuting, while also cutting down on travel risks that could prevent them from making it into the office.
Research from WorldatWork shows that telework programs grew in the United States from 30% of organizations saying they offered it to employees in 2007 to 42% facilitating programs in 2009. According to The Midwest Institute for Telecommuting Education, overall employee productivity increased between 3 and 25 percent when employees moved out of the office to remote locations. This statistic, combined with the fact that remote workers demonstrate increased employee satisfaction, shows that telecommuting is cost-effective and beneficial for both companies and workers alike.
Cost Savings
The federal government, as well as many state and local governments, are realizing the benefits of telework programs. According to a recent study by Telework Exchange, Federal employees who use a smartphone for work purposes report an average time savings/productivity gain of 54 minutes per day. According to the survey, the Federal government could save an estimated $37 million in additional productivity each day by equipping mobile employees.
With some organizations considering four-day workweeks as an answer to rising energy costs, teleworking offers the benefits of a compressed workweek along with increased productivity, but without 10-hour days or the loss of service to customers for a full business day.
Telecommute programs can help organizations to save on real estate and the facilities requirements to support them. With not as many employees in the office, corporations can also avoid new construction or building expansion costs.
Environmental benefits
Another factor supporting growth in telecommuting is related to environmental concerns as either part of a "green" initiative by the organization or as regulations or incentives from the government.
According to a recent article by eWeek.com, American commuters emit 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year on their way to and from work. Commuting also results in huge economic losses for businesses. Time spent in the traffic jams caused by American commuters, results in a loss of 3.7 billion hours of productivity every year, which translates to a $63.1 billion annual loss for American businesses due to wasted time and fuel.
Government Incentives
In addition, many governments are instituting tax incentives or regulations to encourage "greener" behaviors. In 2009, Georgia will become the first state to offer tax credits to companies that allow employee's to telecommute. The Georgia Telework Tax Credit offers a company $20,000 for planning, training and/or labor costs in setting up a telework program. It also offers an additional $1200 per new teleworker created in 2009 to help offset the cost of equipment like computers, software and maintenance.
Telework program concerns
Despite the many benefits of incorporating telework programs there are concerns by many groups within an organization, ranging from supervisors, human resources, IT and corporate security officers, with supervisors being the most vocal in their concerns.
Supervisors want to know how to measure productivity of those they can’t see, how to maintain team cohesion and collaboration or how to adjust their management style. Human resources executives worry about potential changes to employment contracts and policy enforcement procedures. IT managers worry about support and training of remote employees. Information security has also been cited as a major concern, especially for financial companies and government organizations.
There is no easy answer to these concerns. The approach taken by many companies with successful programs has been to treat them as major change initiatives rather than solely technology deployments.
If deployed successfully, organizations stand to gain long-term benefits from implementing a teleworker program.
To learn more about how Comm-Works can help support the technology needs for your telework solution, contact us at 800.853.8090 or marketing@comm-works.com.