Telecommuting: Bottom Line Benefits

Telecommuting: The Bottom Line
Kate Lister, Telework Researcher and Author
Jim Ball, Managing Partner, Alpine Access Consulting

About Kate
20+ Years WAH
Author
Undress For Success: The Naked Truth About Making Money at Home (Wiley, 2009). Forward by Jack Nilles.
Praised by WorldatWork, Telework Canada, Telcoa, and top worklife experts.
Telework Researcher
250+ Studies / Interviews
Telework Savings Calculator
2010 Total Rewards Conference & Exhibition

About Jim
Co-founder Alpine Access
Original 100% home-based employee call center
2,800 employees in 35 states
Managing Director, Alpine Access Consulting

Telecommuting: The Bottom Line
The Benefits
Employers, Employees, Community
Quantitative
Qualitative
The Barriers
Cultural, Societal
Best Practices / Resources

• Used by legislators, community advocates, and Fortune 500 companies in U.S. and Canada to promote telework initiatives
• Available for every City, County, Metro Area, Congressional District, State in U.S.
• Savings
Company: Real Estate, Absenteeism, Turnover, Productivity
Community: Oil, greenhouse gases, traffic, highway maintenance
Individual: Gas, auto, food, parking, tolls, clothing, daycare

Custom Savings Calculator
Total # of employees
# Teleworkers
Days / week they will telework
Additionalpeople who could work at home
Roundtrip miles to work
Roundtrip commute in minutes
Other employee Savings
$ per gallon of gas
% teleworker offices that are eliminated
Cost per kWh of electricity
Cost/per office
Cost of losing an employee
Cost of unscheduled absences
% Reduction in absences
% of employees who quit each year
% improvement in retention
Assumed improvement in productivity
Average annual earnings of teleworkers
Other company savings
% Who could work at home
% of people who want to telework
% Daily travel reduction
Parking, Lunch, Work Clothes
Other Individual Savings/Year
Day Care Costs

Telework Savings Calculator - Sources
American Community Survey
Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Omnibus Household Survey
2005 Reason Foundation — The Quiet Success: Telecommuting's Impact on Transportation and Beyond
EPA MOBILE6.2
Colliers International 2008 Parking Study
BLS Labor Review
BLS Consumer Spending Report
Center for Energy and Climate Solutions / Global Environment and Technology Foundation
National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies
U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Household Electricity Reports
National Highway Safety Administration "Traffic Safety Facts”
Federal Highway Administration Traffic Safety Data
Cushman & Wakefield MarketBeat
Matthews and Williams "Telework Adoption and Energy Use in Building and Transport Sectors in the United States and Japan”
U.S. General Administrative Services Telework Studies
American Management Associations / AVAYA "Unleashing the Hidden Productivity of your Small Business”
CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey
TalentKeepers Employee Turnover Trends
WorldatWork Member Surveys
CommuteSolutions.org

Telecommuting:
The Bottom Line
Employers

Telecommuting: The Bottom Line for Employers
Productivity
Facilities
Absenteeism
Attraction / Retention
Other

Employer Productivity
Businesses lose $600 billion a year in workplace distractions.
Fewer Interruptions
More Effective Time Management
Empowerment
Flexible Hours
Long Hours

Employer: Productivity
- Employees admit to wasting two hours a day.
- Best Buy’s average productivity increased 35%.
75% agree that flexible work increases productivity.
Dow Chemical estimates a 32.5% increase in productivity.
- IBM study suggests telework employees up to 50% more productive.
- Alpine Access, shows 30% increase in sales / 90% reduction in complaints
- Over two-thirds of employers report increased productivity for telecommuters.

Employer Productivity
Workers when you need them

Employers: Facilities
More Efficient
More Flexible
Scalable
Hoteling / Hot Desking
Other Costs: parking, furniture, supplies, maintenance, security, janitorial, insurance, taxes, common area, compliance costs

Sun Microsystems saves $68 million a year in real estate costs, $3 million a year in reduced power consumption, and $25 million a year in IT expenditures
- Unisys reduced its real estate costs by 87% through telecommuting.
- McKesson Corporation’s telework program saves >$1 million a year in RE costs.
- The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office avoided $11 million in new real estate expenses through telecommuting and office hoteling (70% of staff telework)
- IBM’s 80,000 teleworkers save the company $700 million a year in real estate costs.

You don’t pay for an employee’s car and maintenance
What if you didn’t have to pay for and support their computer and phone?

Employers: Absenteeism
Telecommuting has proven to be the second most effective method of reducing absences
Stress
Exposure
Occupational / Environmental Hazards
Driving
Work While Sick
More Satisfied

Employers: Absenteeism
- 78% of employees who call in sick, really aren’t
Unscheduled absences cost employers $1,800/employee per year; that adds up to $300 billion per year for U.S. companies.
- Based on AMA data U.S. GSA telework cost/benefit model shows a 63% reduction in unscheduled absences per teleworker.
- The spread of contagious disease is at the root of a federal policy that requires all eligible employees to telework to the maximum extent possible.
- 64% of managers felt reduced absenteeism was a strong or very strong business reason to allow flexible work.

Employer Benefits: Attraction / Retention
Among top non-financial benefits
Expands talent pool
Geography
Caregivers
Part-timers (26M)
Disabled (16M)
Rural
Retirees
Almost 80% of employees say they would like to work from home, at least part of the time.
More than a third say they’d choose the option to telecommute over a
pay raise.

Employer: Turnover Savings
- Attrition costs 75% of a non-exempt salary and 150-200% of exempt salary.
85% of employers say telework increases employee retention.
- 68% Shering-Plough teleworkers say it’ a factor in their decision to stay.
- 72% of employees say they’d choose a flexwork job over traditional.
- Gen Y workers are attracted to flexible work arrangements.
- 70% of Boomers plan to work for pay after retirement
5.4 million Americans with some college education or more aren't working.
Only 75% of women age 25–54 participate in the labor force.
Almost a quarter of women work part time (16.5 million), vs. 10% of men.
- Two-thirds of employees would take another job to ease the commute.

Employer: Total Savings (Half-Time)

Employer: Other Benefits
Potential financial incentives
Improved COOP
Community citizenship
Alternative to off-shoring
Avoid of environmental
Avoid city access fees
Reduce overtime
Reduce overstaffing
24/7 global coverage
Fewer meetings
Higher quality
Results-based management
Reduce potential for discrimination
Increase employee empowerment
Improve work-life balance
Avoid of local labor burnout
Equalizes personalities
Local licensing compliance
Local knowledge hires
Tax / Cash Incentives

Employer: Concerns
Control
Productivity
Technology
Management Overhead
Security
Culture
Legal

Employer Concerns: Management Overhead
Different vs. Difficult
Communications
Synchronous vs. Asynchronous

Employer Concerns: Security
Training
Virtual Private Network (VPN) / Biometrics
Virus Protection / Monitoring
Firewalls
Personal Use

Employer Concerns: Culture
Training
Esprit de corps
Advancement
Communications
Can vs. Can Not's

Employer Concerns: Legal / Administrative
OSHA
FLSA
Workers Compensation
Union Issues
State / Local Taxes
State Licensing
State Friendliness
Site Inspection

Employees
Telecommuting:
The Bottom Line

Telecommuting: Employee Benefits
Work-life Balance
Time
Gas
Money

Telecommuting: Employee Benefits
• 90% of home-based telecommuters say they are happier with the balance in their lives because of working from home.
• During the 2008 run up in fuel prices, 92% of employees said they were concerned with the high cost of fuel. 73% felt their employers should take the lead in helping them reduce their commuting costs.
•During the same survey, two-thirds said they’d take another job to ease the commute.

Telecommuting: Employee Concerns
Discipline
Space
Loneliness
Co-Worker Jealousy
Advancement
Overworking

Community
Telecommuting:
The Bottom Line

Telecommuting: Community Benefits
Pollution
Fossil Fuel Dependence
Traffic Congestion
Highway Maintenance
Other

Community Savings

Community Benefits
• From 1982 to 2005, only 6% of major cities were able to expand their roads in pace with traffic needs. Over 60% fell behind by more than 30%.

Telecommuting: Community BenefitsThe Environmental Ripple Effect
Less Travel
Teleconferencing / Video Conferencing
Remote Training / Webinars
Less Construction
Less Office Equipment / Toxic Waste
Less Paper

Telecommuting: Bottom Line Benefits

Telecommuting: Other Community Benefits
Reduce human congestion
Revitalize cities
Improve emergency responsiveness
Increase productivity among non-telecommuters by reducing travel times
Increase employment
Provide portable work options for military families
Reduce the offshoring of jobs
Raise the standard of living in rural and disadvantaged areas
Reduce terrorism targets of opportunity

Resources
Telecommuting:
The Bottom Line

Telecommuting: Available at:TeleworkResearchNetwork.com
Federal, State, Local Incentives Programs
Statistics, Case Studies, Pros & Cons
Consultant Referral
Sample Documents
Latest News

Questions
Telecommuting:
The Bottom Line

Contacts:
Kate Lister
http://TeleworkResearchNetwork.com
Kate@TeleworkResearchNetwork.com
760-703-0377 (Left Coast Time)
Custom Research, Speaking, Whitepapers, Writing
Jim Ball
jball@AlpineAccess.com
http://www.AlpineAccess.com
720-559-4732 (Forgotten Mountain Time)
Send Your Call Center Home

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Telecommuting: Bottom Line Benefits

by Kate Lister

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