SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the Telework Research Network, if the 41 million Americans with telework-compatible jobs worked from home just one day during National Telework Week (February 14-18), U.S. savings would total $772 million including:
• $494 million in commuter costs
• $185 million from 2.3 million barrels of oil saved
• $93 million from 775 fewer traffic accidents
Plus the environment would be spared 423,000 tons of greenhouse gas—the equivalent of taking 77,000 cars off the road for a year.
Inspired by the success of Telework Day, decreed by then Governor Tim Kaine in 2009, advocacy organizations throughout the country have joined the effort to raise awareness of the environmental, economic, and societal benefits of telework. Over 14,000 have already pledged to participate.
"The savings above are just the tip of the iceberg,” says Kate Lister, principal researcher of the Telework Research Network, an organization that specializes in evaluating the financial impact of workplace flexibility. “If you add the many employer, employee and community benefits, once-weekly telework could save the nation $350 billion a year and potentially eliminate our oil imports from both Libya and Kuwait."
For companies, those benefits include increased productivity, reduced office space, and lower turnover and absenteeism. The Telework Research Network's free web-based Telework Savings Calculator™, shows that companies could save over $6,500 per once-a-week teleworker. "We've built a conservative model," says Tom Harnish, senior scientist at the Telework Research Network. “The assumptions are based on a synthesis of hundreds of studies and real life examples. They recognize that not everyone wants to or can work from home, that not all driving is eliminated, that occasional telework offers only minimal office space savings, and that home offices use energy too."
Hundreds of company and community leaders throughout the U.S. and Canada have used the Telework Savings Calculator™ to quantify the bottom line impact of telework.
The Telework Research Network is a consulting and research organization that specializes in evaluating the bottom line impact of workplace flexibility. Its principals co-authored the popular press title, Undress For Success—The Truth About Making Money at Home (Wiley, March 2009), a book that’s been praised by environmental, worklife, and telework experts.
Editor Note: Regional impacts are available on request.