Telecommuting Benefits Employees, Improves Bottom Line



Posted: Sunday, October 28, 2007

by
http://www.trainingforce.com

I've been lobbying for things such as telecommuting (realistic) and afternoon siestas (not too realistic) at my former places of employment to enhance what I find to be outdated policies. Mostly telecommuting. After moving to the Northern Virginia area, just a hop, skip and car-riddled commute to our nation's capital, I realized that telecommuting has a lot of great advantages for workers who can do their jobs with the use of lap tops, personal digital assistants and the good ole land line.

I was particularly incensed after an icy rain storm and dangerous commute to a former place of employment where I was not allowed to work from home, even though I found out later that veteran employees were in fact working from home during bad weather. The corporate culture of this company was that of distrust and it really pained me to know that leadership could not move into the future with a policy of allowing all of its employees to occasionally work from home.

Now I finally work at an association that has implemented several new changes to make the life-work balance of employees better. It is still a new policy but it is working out great. I only work from home one day a week, as a trial period for myself to see how it works for my colleagues. I love it. If I need to go grocery shopping during my lunch break, I can do this without the cranky dinner crowd rushing through the store. And as a pregnant person with swollen feet, being able to put my feet up to work is a beautiful thing. As I think about the big changes on the horizon with a baby on the way, I reconsider my work life. I would be amenable to share an office (but not a computer, I'd rather have my own laptop) with another part-time worker who doesn't need a full time desk space. So that cuts down on the amount of space a company needs to allocate for two people, adding up to savings for the company, and by being so accommodating, possibly cutting down on employee turnover.

Not to mention the benefits to the others on the road who have one less car's exhaust to breathe in during the morning and evening commute. But more so, I am fortunate because my managers have the trust in me to get my assignments done without having to micromanage my time. I manage it much in the same way as if I were in the office.

Although I love telework, I still put a lot of value in face time and building professional relationships at work, so I wouldn't want to work from home all the time, but as it stands, I find this new policy very effective and saving money and gas, lunch and work clothes are just the icing on the cake.

Lauren Evoy Davis has covered technology and health in reporting capacities and has written many pages of end-user documentation for custom computer applications for the education, immigration and association-management industries. She also writes for her blog http://MyGeekBaby.com

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