WASHINGTON, March 13, 2009 - Working from home could save United States consumers $228 billion, add $260 billion to companies’ bottom line, and save the government another $14 billion, according to a study released Tuesday by Undress4success.com.
"Using the recently-released U.S. Census American Community Survey figures, and data from over a dozen authoritative studies, the calculator quantifies what every city, county, region, Congressional District, and State in the nation could save through telecommuting / work-from-home initiatives," according to a press release from the California-based group.
It was referring to a web-based calculator that allows individuals and organizations to model cost-savings obtainable from telecommuting. The calculator is available
at http://undress4success.com/research/telework-savings-calculator.
According to the research, "currently less than six million Americans consider home their regular workplace—more than half of them are self-employed. Undress4Success.com's research show that another 33 million people hold jobs that are telework-compatible and eager to work from home."
"If they did so just half of the time (roughly the national average for those who already do), businesses could improve their bottom line by over $7,900 per new telecommuter per year—the result of lower real estate, electricity, absenteeism, and turnover costs together with increased employee productivity," adds the statement.
Teleworking is estimated to have saved Sun Microsystems $70 million a year in real estate alone; McKesson $2 million a year in real estate and other expenses; Dow Chemical a third of its non-real estate costs through telework while Best Buy, British Telecom, J.D. Edwards, and American Express "show home-based employees to be 20-40% more productive than their office counterparts."
The calculator results, the statement added, are based on new research conducted by telecommuting advocates Kate Lister and Tom Harnish, authors of the newly published Undress For Success—The Naked Truth About Making Money at Home (Wiley, March 2009).
The Undress4Success.com web site offers individuals, companies, and researchers a wide range of resources on telecommuting, freelancing, and home-based businesses.
According to author and web site owner Lister, “widespread adoption of virtual technologies, in particular teleconferencing and video conferencing, will reduce the need for business travel” and take the equivalent of 15 million cars off the road.
Home telecommuting is only one option for telecommuters. Remote Office Centers offer another solution. ROCs lease individual offices, internet and phone systems to workers from different companies in shared centers located around the city and suburbs. ROCs offer a hybrid telecommuting solution for workers who want to skip the long daily commuter, but prefer the structure and infrastructure that a professional office environment provides.
By working from an office near the home, workers save on gas, time and CO2 emissions, but they do not have to give up the familiar office environment.
ROCs are fairly new, but can be found in many cities by searching the internet for “Remote Office Centers”.
Widespread Telecommuting Could Save Consumers $228 Billion, Businesses $260 Billion…
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2009 – Working from home could save United States consumers $228 billion, add $260 billion to companies’ bottom line, and save the government another $14 billion, according to a study released Tuesday by Undress4success.com.
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