Working from home is a dream for many people,
one that I've been privileged enough to achieve for the last 7 years. With
so many jobs mainly based around computers these days, telecommuting is
becoming increasingly popular. It saves employers and employees time, money
and environmentally damaging transport related emissions; as well as
lightening the demand on oil.
My experience
Back in 2000, like many people, I was
commuting to work. This consisted of a 22km (15 mile) commute each way
daily, which wasn't too bad I guess, but over a year, that amounted to over
9000 kilometers (over 5,500 miles). While that's a short distance compared
to the commute of some and it was mostly carried out via public transport;
that's still a lot of fuel to shuttle my butt back and forth.
Additionally, I *really* resented the time it
was taking out of my life - over 10 full days of my life each year..
unpaid.. and time I'll never get back. I'd look around me each day on the
train or bus at the sad, long faces and ask myself - why am I doing this
when there's an alternative?
I decided to make a major change in my life
and started to work purely from a home office - and have never looked back.
While telecommuting does present some challenges; it's saved me time, money
and impact on the environment. Think of the millions of people who commute
each day around the world - the related oil consumption and emissions must
be truly staggering.
According to this study, thirty-three
million Americans hold jobs that could be performed at home.
Based on my previous commute and lets say a
(very) conservative saving of just over 1 gallon of fuel per week if one
million of those Americans worked from home; that would be 52 million
gallons of gas saved a year; a saving of (again conservatively and based on
a formula from the EPA) 1,008,800,000 pounds of carbon emissions anually!
The real figure would be far, far higher as the aforementioned study
suggests.
Undress 4 Success also have an interesting
calculator where using data from various sources you can see how much
oil and emissions are saved by telecommuters in various cities in the USA.
There's just really no need for many of us to
have to drag ourselves into a remotely located office for 40 hours a week.
We have email, instant messaging, video conferencing, VoIP (Voice over IP -
Internet telephony) - all the tools we need to work effectively.
I just spent 6 years telecommuting full time
for a USA company from my home in Australia - and never once physically met
any of my co-workers! While that sort of isolation doesn't suit everyone,
it's just an example of how far technology has come to allow that sort of
remote working capability for extended periods.
Employers - implement a telecommute
program
Can any of your staff work from home - even
if just for a couple of days a week? Have you asked if any of your staff
would like to do this?
Many companies fear that telecommuting
results in a lack of productivity; but happy staff are generally more
productive. You just need to ensure that the employee has a quiet space in
their premises from which to operate, the appropriate tools and the
equipment they will be using is properly secured.
Telecommuting employees require a different
style of management too; based more on results rather than clocking in and
out. A couple of great resources for learning more about how to implement a
telecommuting program can be found at TeleWork.gov.
Employees - ask about telecommuting
Would you like to work from home but there's
no telecommuting program in place at the company you work for? Maybe it's
because upper management just hasn't had the time to investigate the option.
Why not do a little of the groundwork yourself, gathering information from
the resource mentioned above and submit a proposal. You could offer yourself
as the trial subject :). At the very least, it might show your bosses you
have initiative - perhaps you might even get a raise or promotion ;)
