How Teleworking Has Been Successful
Teleworking is a buzzword of the information age; its promoters laud the benefits of workers choosing to work out of a home office instead of a cubicle. Many companies are resistant to instituting telework programs because they are uncertain about the programs' effectiveness. Telecommuting nonetheless has a positive track record of successful integration into corporate culture.
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Increased Productivity
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The U.S. Department of Transportation released a report that found productivity gains as a result of teleworking. Improvements ranged from 10 percent to as high as 40 percent, according to a 2008 "Inc." magazine article. Employee morale is increased when members of the staff have the option of fulfilling their duties at least part of the time from home. Employees cite the extra time spent with family instead of in a lengthy commute to an office as among the benefits of telework.
Reduced Turnover
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Call centers began instituting home-based representatives in the late 1990s, and discovered that employee turnover declined. Since it is costly to retrain new employees, maintaining a stable workforce is a clear benefit to a business's bottom line. Call center managers discovered that they were equally able to measure the productivity of those employees who worked from home and those who worked out of the business's main offices.
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Attracting Top Talent
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Employers who offer telecommuting as an option have been better able to attract the best people to join their management teams. They can also keep those individuals who want the job but who don't want to relocate in the candidate pool for a new position. Of executives seeking a high-salaried position, 20 percent said working from home was a very important priority in a 2004 survey reported by "USA Today."
Environmental Benefits and Cost Savings
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Teleworking has reduced the need to lease office space and spend money on the energy needed to maintain and operate that space. Even allowing part of the workforce to telecommute is enough to justify a reduction in square footage and the number of office computers and other machines, including printers and photocopiers. The benefit to society of fewer individuals leaving home to go to work is fewer pollution-causing cars on the road.
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References
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