Telecommuting is a work arrangement in which employees have the option to work from home (or a convenient remote location) one or more days per week rather than commuting into the office. Benefits from telecommuting are gained by employees, employers, and communities as a whole.
For employers, offering a work-at-home option, even one day per week, can expand the talent pool, reduce cost, increase productivity, boost employees morale, limit the spread of disease, and of course, reduce the company's carbon footprint. Surveys continually show that employers that offer telecommuting options have higher employee satisfaction with their jobs.
For employees, telecommuting arrangements save money on fuel or commuting costs, provide more productive hours in the day, improve work-life balance, and for most people, reduce stress. The time gained can be considerable for people who spend an hour or more traveling to and from work each day.
For communities, traffic congestion is reduced, with commensurate environmental benefits due to fewer emissions. The wear and tear on road is lessened as well.
If you have a job that is amenable to telecommuting and spend an hour or more getting to and from work each day, it is worth investigating whether your company offers a telecommuting option for one or more days per week. On days that you telecommute you will eliminate the need for your car, save the fuel you would burn traveling to and from work, and gain an hour of productive time.
Estimates suggest that over 50 million U.S. workers (about 40% of the working population) could work from home at least part of the time, yet as of 2008 only 2.5 million employees actually did.
If those 50 million workers did work from home 50% of the time, here are the projected benefits:
Reducing oil consumption by 280 million barrels per year
Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 9 million cars taken off the road
Six billion person-hours of productive time gained
The trends are in the right direction. More people have high-speed internet connection at home and fully-capable computers. Services for teleconferencing are more widely available at low cost, and video conferencing is becoming more common due to applications such as Skype or other providers.
In addition to saving energy and time, you will likely find a telecommuting day to be a stress-reliever, as well.
If telecommuting is an option for you and your company, it could be both green and good for your health.
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