Telework Benefits

President’s Corner

The Telework Coalition (TelCoa), America’s leading nonprofit telework education and advocacy organization, based in Washington DC, was established in 2002 by a group of professionals with experience in addressing the benefits, adoption, and implementation of telework and telecommuting programs. This was in response to a growing need for a single, reliable source of reference material about technology’s impact on our economy, environment, energy usage, and our society in general. TelCoa focuses on how this technology is changing our lifestyles, organizational structures and workplace management, along with the policies, processes and procedures that support them.

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Guest Columnist

Telecommuting Catches On at the Council of Better Business Bureaus

Matthew Scandale

The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) is a national nonprofit headquartered in the Washington, DC area. They generate $20 million a year with 114 employees, leading a network of 115 independent BBB's generating $165 million in revenue with 2,300 employees. So they probably land in the middle of mid-sized organizations. We work hard to make the world a better place, helping consumers to avoid getting ripped off. We were a random collection of about 100 white-collar workers bustling about the halls and cubicles of a random high-rise in DC. Or at least that's the way it was until this year.

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Benefits to businesses:

Reduced real estate needs - Studies show that up to 50% of work spaces are not in use at any given time. The average cost to provide a place to work is $10,000 per year.
Increased productivity - Productivity increases average up to 20% with some studies showing an increase of up to 50%.
Reduced absenteeism - Employers can save up to 63% of absenteeism costs per teleworker.
Increased employee attraction - Many employees look for opportunities where they can telework at least a few days per week.
Increased employee retention – Many key employees are tired of sitting in traffic and look for jobs closer to their homes. Some are willing to accept telework as an alternative to salary increases.
Increased employee morale and motivation – A happy employee is a better employee.
The need for a more decentralized, dispersed, and distributed workforce – This is necessary when developing contingency plans for dealing with emergencies caused by traffic, weather, pandemics, or people themselves.

Benefits to the employee:

Improved work/life balance - Employees are able to plan family or other personal events without having the uncertainty of traffic congestion that can cause them to miss them.
Reduced stress - Sitting in traffic can make anyone’s blood pressure rise.
Reduced commuting and associated costs - Wear and tear on the car, cost of fuel, insurance, parking, laundry and dry cleaning, work clothes, meals and refreshments and even costs associated with public transportation can be reduced or eliminated.

Benefits to us all:

Reduced traffic congestion - A study done by George Mason University showed that reducing the number of cars on the road by 1% reduces congestion by 3%, and by eliminating 3% of the cars would reduce congestion by 10%.
Improved air and water quality - A number one source of air pollution is vehicular. In the Baltimore/Washington , DC area, for example, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, vehicle emissions are the second largest component of the airborne pollution that accounts for approximately 30% of the Bay’s nitrogen pollution.
Reduced dependency on imported oil – Some statistics show that a 20% reduction in traffic would eliminate our need for importing oil from the Mid East and other foreign sources.