Reduce overhead costs through telecommuting

Telecommuting – working from your home office using the phone and internet—is popular not only with many employees but also with CFOs. Done well, it’s one in a bundle of Lean and Green strategies to reduce costs and reduce environmental impact.

Sun Microsystems’ Open Work program saved the company US$64 million in real estate by saving (or avoiding) 6,600 seats. Nearly 15,000 “flexible-location workers” participated (46% of the workforce). Together with use of the company’s SunRay thin-client PC alternative, Sun’s estimate for annual carbon-emission reductions was 30,000 tons. (From “Eco-Responsibility at Sun,” presented by David Towne, at TFI’s Design-for-Environment Workshop, February 2007.)

The topic of telecommuting tends to evoke strong emotions: Employees yearn for the freedom to earn a good living without being “slaves” to long work days in the office plus 2-hour daily commutes. Managers fear that their employees would—sight unseen–abandon their deliverables and leave the manager holding the corporate objectives. Employees whose functions require on-site presence envy colleagues who could remain in their jammies all day.

Consider this rational approach from an experienced manager of telecommuting employees (and a telecommuter myself): Employees who demonstrate fiscal responsibility earn budgets. Employees who accomplish escalating levels of tasks earn promotions. Employees who consistently follow through on commitments earn the right to telecommute—perhaps starting with a day or two a week, then increasing based on managers’ evaluation of results achieved.

Then there’s the clearing of the air and loosening of traffic congestion when employees commute less frequently. I advise our clients never to underestimate their employees’ awareness of and passion about the environment. A sound telecommuting policy typically boosts employees’ job satisfaction as they get to (1) breathe and be creative when otherwise they’d be on the road, (2) get a running chance at establishing work/life balance, and (3) have a manager who trusts them and cares—like they do—about a healthy environment.

And with web-conferencing, videoconferencing, interactive electronic whiteboards, blogs, and other web-based discussion tools, it’s easier and easier to be effective when not face to face.

As your company grows (positive thinking during uncertain economic times), I challenge you to leverage a savvy telecommuting policy instead of adding new offices. Your company will avoid costs not only for the real estate, but also for furniture, supplies, cafeterias, cleaning services, landscaping, and other overhead. And with each of these categories of cost avoidance comes reduced environmental footprint.

What experiences have you had with telecommuting? Do your employees telecommute? How much is too much telecommuting?

Posted by Pamela Gordon, December 5th, 2008