Telecommuting is Green and Saves Money, but Most Employers still Resist it

Telecommuting Faces Employer InertiaIn these days of increasing environmental awareness and rising oil prices, telecommuting is gaining mindshare. Yet employers are still reluctant. According to CIO Insight Research's Mobility Survey: "51 percent of CIOs and other senior IT leaders surveyed said their companies discourage fulltime telecommuting. An equal number of the 237 respondents—24 percent each—said their firms encourage fulltime telecommuting or remain neutral."

But there is hope, since when asked how their company's policy has changed over the past 3 years, 34% said that it's more positive against 8% replying it was more negative for full-time telecommuting, and for part-time telecommuting, the figures are 46% vs. 5%.

On the employee side, things are different, especially in the IT sector (where telecommuting makes the most sense, obviously).

"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."

Telecommuting Could Save Billions of Gallons of Gasoline According to Telework Exchange, "f white-collar employees who feel they could do their jobs from home began to telework twice a week, the United States could conserve 9.7 billion gallons of gasoline and save $38.2 billion a year." These calculations are based on 50 miles roundtrips in vehicles getting 24 miles per gallon, with gasoline at $3.94/gallon.

TelecommutingTreeHugger Picks: TelecommutingTelecommuting: Why don't you stay home?Bill Encourages Telecommuting in USAEfficiencyCherryPal: A 2-Watt Computer the Size of a PaperbackEfficiency is Crucial to a Green FutureMore on Employers Resisting TelecommutingCIO Insight Research's Mobility SurveyMost Employers Resist TelecommutingU.S. IT Pros Eager to TelecommuteTelework Exchange Report (pdf)First photo by Sean Dreilinger, second photo by veo_, Creative Commons License