A Telework Research Network study shows that a company could save $1,100,000 if they allowed 100 workers to work at home just half the time. For an SMB, a savings of $10,000 per employee is a big deal.

Conducted independently, the study quantifies the business, individual, and societal impact that regular telecommuting could have on the nation, and for small to mid-size companies. Nationwide, the impact would exceed $645 billion.

Businesses with 100 teleworkers would annually:

- Increase productivity by $575,000 by getting more work done with the same number of people
- Save $304,000 in real estate, electricity, and related costs
- Save $113,000 in absenteeism related costs
- Save $76,000 in employee turnover
- Improve continuity of operations
- Avoid environmental sanctions, city access fees, etc.
- Improve work life balance and better address the needs of families, parents, and senior caregivers.
- Avoid the ‘brain drain’ effect of retiring boomers by allowing them to work flexibly
- Be able to recruit and retain the best people
- Better address the needs of disabled workers, rural residents, and military families

More than 30% of U.S. workers say they’d take a pay cut for the opportunity to work at home. Eighty percent of U.S. workers say they want to telecommute. 40% hold jobs that are compatible. Yet still, less than 2% of U.S. employees (not including the self-employed) consider home their primary place of work.

The Telework Research Network’s findings have been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and dozens of other publications. A free calculator that allows communities and companies calculate their own potential telework savings is available on their website at http://TeleworkResearchNetwork.com. Similar models for the U.K. and Canadian markets are currently being developed.

Kate Lister, Principal Researcher
TeleworkResearchNetwork.com
Co-Author of Undress For Success—The Naked Truth About Making Money at Home (Wiley 2009)