Addicted to Oil- TeleCommute and Save

I Just Gotta Tell Ya” 

• According to Kate Lister, about 90,000 San Diego  residents commute (6.5%) of populations. 

• The Consumer Electronics Association commissioned a study which found that one day of telecommuting saves the equivalent of up to 12 hours of an average household’s electricity use. 
• Research conducted by Kate Lister and Tom Harnish in 2008 shows that thirty-three million Americans hold jobs that could be performed at home. If they did, the U.S. could make major cuts in oil dependency. Based on their synthesis of data from EPA, DOT, and 7 other recent sources, they found that telework could reduce Gulf oil imports by 24 to 48%, reduce greenhouse gases by up to 67 million metric tons a year, and save as much as 7.5 billion gallons of gasoline each year. These new telecommuters would collectively avoid 154 billion miles of driving and save $25 billion in fuel purchases (even accounting for mileage for errands formerly accomplished driving to or from work). What’s more, their research shows that by not commuting, these new teleworkers would enjoy the equivalent of an extra 5 workweeks of free time each year.

Top 9 Reasons to Telecommute

1. Conserves Energy 
2. Preserves Environment 
3. Promotes Safety- less traffic accidents
4. Improves Health 
5. Improves Family Relations- offers people opportunity to share quality life with family 
6. Improves Productivity
7. Improves Employee Morale- saves them money- perk 
8. Improves Employee Retention. 

• “In a poll of 1,500 technology workers, 37 percent said they would accept a salary cut [of up to 10%] if they could work from home, according to Dice Holdings.”

    9.) Company saves money – via energy, office supplies and other materials 

Does it Work?

• From Wired- “Studies have shown that telecommuters are every bit as engaged as their cubicle-bound brethren — and happier and more productive to boot. Last year,researchers from Penn State analyzed 46 studies of telecommuting conducted over two decades and covering almost 13,000 employees. Their sweeping inquiry concluded that working from home has “favorable effects on perceived autonomy, work-family conflict, job satisfaction, performance, turnover intent, and stress.” The only demonstrable drawback is a slight fraying of the relationships between telecommuters and their colleagues back at headquarters — largely because of jealousy on the part of the latter group. 
• IDC report from Asia found that 81 percent of managers believe telecommuting improves productivity, up from 61 percent in 2005. 

Telecommute Jobs

• Telecommute Friendly Companies- 
• Telecommute Jobs 
• Telecommuting 
• Telecommuting Millionaire 

TeleCommute Resources

• National Transportation Library 
• Telecommute Connecticutis a statewide initiative providing free assistance to employers with the design, development and implementation of telecommuting as a worksite alternative.
• Telecommute Sacramento
• Remote Office Centers- Remote Office Centers lease individual offices, phone systems, telecommuting services and infrastructure to workers from multiple companies in shared centers near where people live. 

Suggested Products From Ideal Bite 

• Adium and Digsby – free Mac and Windows (respectively) programs that let you chat via AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and other services, all at once.
• FreeConference – schedule conference calls for free (you do have to call a long-distance number).
• Genesys – top-of-the-line videoconferencing software from a company that’ll perform an energy-savings audit for you; its calculator shows managers how much money you can save by videoconferencing.
• Skype – make free calls to anywhere in the world using your computer.
• FlexJobs – scope out job listings for thousands of jobs that let you work from home.