Sustainability: business, life, environment

Did you know that if 10% of the nation's workforce telecommuted one day a week, we would avoid the frustration of driving 24.4 million miles, we'd breathe air with 12,963 tons less air pollution, and we'd conserve more than 1.2 million gallons of fuel each week?  Sustainable businesses looking to cut cost and also integrate sustainability concepts in business operations are looking to remote working to do the trick.  Why?  There are several contributing factors. 
 
For starters, a report by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers highlights benefits of remote working including “reducing absenteeism, lowering turnover, improving the health of workers, and increasing productivity.”  The same benefits are borne out by the results of a report by The Telework Coalition, “Wired Working as a Lifestyle,” that found:

• businesses save an average of $20,000 a year for each full-time employee who works remotely;
• employee productivity increased by an average of 22 % when remote working was allowed;
• remote working reduced employee turnover by 50 %.

The good news is teleworking is gaining momentum.  According to a study conducted during National Telework Week, more than 60 percent of organizations surveyed said that management is more open to allowing employees to work remotely than they were just one year ago. 
 
Furthermore, a study by a communication researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , illustrates that employees who telecommute the majority of the workweek are more satisfied with their jobs compared to those working mostly in the office because working remotely alleviates more stress than it creates.  The main benefit reported by participants who telework at least three days a week is the decreased work-life conflict that a flexible work arrangement allows.
 
There are environmental benefits as well.  As shared in our sustainability consulting, remote working as part of a sustainable business strategy helps:

• Conserve energy
• Preserve the environment
• Reduce commuter traffic.  This reduces toxic gases and dust particles released into the atmosphere as well as the chemicals washed into our waterways, wells, and rivers.

The changing climate of today’s business has shifted the priorities and expectations of the everyday wage earner.  Today’s increasingly busy workforce now seeks to maximize the use of its time and leverage advancements in technology to create greater work-life balance.  As a result, the business world is currently in the process of shifting from traditional work structures towards replacing them with more flexible working relationships with their internal stakeholders.  Teleworking is making the grade on all counts.