Wouldn’t it be great to put less miles on your car?
Spend less time on the subway?
Take hours off your day by not commuting?
That’s valuable time spent away from the important things in life … not just the office, but also your family and your extra-curricular interests.
Telecommuting is a saviour for people who wake up in the morning and dread the trek into the office.
There’s more benefit to remote work.
Did you know it can save employers — and employees — thousands or dollars annually?
TeleworkResearchNetwork.com compiled statistics and surveys and found the overall economic benefit to the United States would total more than $700 billion a year if employees who hold telework-compatible jobs (50 per cent of the work force) and those who want to work at home (79 per cent) did so for just half of the time.
Of that total, $500 billion comes from fewer costs in real-estate space, electricity and utilities, absenteeism, turnover and productivity. More savings comes from lightened pressure on janitorial services, security, maintenance, paper and office supplies, coffee and water service, parking spaces, equipment and furniture.
According to Telework’s statistics report, nearly six out of 10 employers identify cost savings as a significant benefit to telecommuting. IMB, for instance, slashed real-estate costs by $50 million after instituting a work-from-home program.
Bolt Insurance of Connecticut pulled together a great infographic, based on Telework’s statistics.
We’ve cut out the portion applying to cost benefits:
See the block that shows the average telecommuter can save between $2,000 and $7,000 a year?
Let’s think about how we employees cut transportation and work-related costs by telecommuting:
✔ Fuel
✔ Wear and tear on the car
✔ Transit costs
✔ Parking
✔ Childcare
Many employees also qualify for home-office tax breaks. In Canada, both home-based employees and entrepreneurs can claim their home offices as a deduction.
Add those savings to reduced work-life conflict and stress, greater job satisfaction and increased productivity.
When companies embrace telecommuting, they stand to win, provided they have a policy and results-based program in place, along with the right communications tools, especially conference calling and web conferencing services to add the personal touch.
