If you belong to the small percentage of businesses that are still hiring (or at least not laying off) in this economy, you might want to consider the benefits of allowing your employees to telecommute. As more and more technological advances take place, more and more jobs in the marketplace can be done without actually having to be in the office. In fact, according to a recent report, about 40 percent of U.S. employees hold jobs that could be done at home - or anywhere with an internet connection, and these days, that's not hard to find.
For a business owner, offering an employee or prospective hire the opportunity to telecommute has quite a few benefits for both parties.
- Eliminate the actual commute. In Los Angeles, when commuting can take up to two hours or more, telecommuting can decrease or even eliminate commute time and puts less cars on the road.
- Save employees gas money. An increase in telecommuting has been the second most common way employees have managed rising gas prices.
- Give employees flexibility. 72 percent of employees say flexible work arrangements would influence them to chose one job over another; 37 percent specify telecommuting. This is especially true for the Millennial generation, a tech- and web-savvy group that's hard to both recruit and retain.
- Access more talent. You're not limited to employees living in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. With telecommuting, hiring a talented web designer or even IT manager in another state becomes possible.
- Improve productivity. Studies by Pacific Bell, Traveler's Insurance, the city of Los Angeles and others have shown that telecommuters are up to 20 percent more productive than comparable office workers.
- Reduce overhead expenses. Businesses have the potential to save $11,000 or more a year on overhead expenses when an employee telecommutes.
- Help the environment. Today, when businesses are increasingly trying to reduce their negative impact on the environment, offering employees the opportunity to telecommute is just another way. When 10 percent of the workforce telecommutes only one day a week, there is a decrease of 13,000 tons of pollution and a savings of 1.2 million gallons of gas.
Comments
We are Flexible Resources, Inc. a staffing and consulting firm based in CT, NJ and NY that has been helping companies establish all types of flexible work arrangements for 20 years, agree with you totally about the value telecommuting brings, not only to employees, but also to employers. Now, it's an excellent perk when companies cannot afford raises. One of the obstacles to telecommuting we have come across is the manager who believes that essentially employees cannot be trusted to be working when they are not being watched! So help overcome that by establishing objectives that must be met, with strict deadlines. The truth is, if you really cannot trust an employee, why would you want them working for you anyway. Telecommuters have historically been incredibly productive, able to focus far better away from the distractions of the office. If deadlines cannot be met, that employee is falling far short of expectations, and flex. work has nothing to do with it.
www.flexibleresources.com
I hope that more employers can see this and realize that this is going to be the choice for employers for the future, I am amazed that the employers are so short sited. Not only do they get all the benefits you mention, but there is the benefit you did not mention, that they would not need those highly paid leads and managers. I think that they the managers and leads are the ones discouraging this, because they realize that like the Post office if you dont touch the mail you dont work, and that they will be eliminated if they cant do the actual work or demoted and actually have to work for a change.
I have the rare privilege of actually working for a company that offers telecommunication solutions as an internet application to other companies. I'm moving a solid 200 miles away, and will still be working for the company, which is good for me and my company! Not to mention that the two halves of our company are 3000 miles apart (Orlando and Portland). And now, I must shamelessly plug my company, www.FMYI.com (and if you look, we actually do more to help the environment than just enable distance communication)
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