FLEX MATTERS for the Planet

FLEX MATTERS for the Planet...oh yes and for your people and your bottom line as well

April 24, 2010

For the inaugural outing on our blog we're reflecting on Earth Day this week, and we're  wondering if businesses actually understand how much telecommuting truly helps the planet?  And, oh by the way....ALSO has a profoundly positive impact as well on people and profits? 

Eye-opening stats from telework expert Kate Lister can be found here at the Work Shifting site. Lister notes that if 40% or so of the US workers who could telecommute for a day did so that in one day we would eliminate so many greenhouse gases that it would be equivalent to "taking 77,000 cars off the road for a year."  Here are a few ways she suggests that telecommuting helps us with our planetary and human resources.

• Environmentalists applaud telecommuting because it significantly reduces greenhouse gases and energy usage.
• Astute company owners support telecommuting because of the cost savings and increased productivity.
• Work-life experts endorse telecommuting because it addresses the needs of families, parents, and senior caregivers.
• Workforce planners see telecommuting as away to avoid the 'brain drain' effect of retiring boomers.
• Human resource professionals see telecommuting as a way to recruit and retain the best people.
• Employees see telecommuting as a way to save time and money, and improve the quality of their lives.
• Baby Boomers find telecommuting offers a flexible alternative to full retirement.
• Gen Y'ers see telecommuting as a way to work on their own terms.
• Disabled workers, rural residents, and military families find home-based work an answer to their special needs.

Let us know what you think. Is your business tracking similar outcomes?  What are you finding?

So our question is what's not to love about Flex?  What do you think is holding more businesses back from such decidedly up-side arguments?