Does Working From Home Really Save Money?
How can working from home save me money? This was the first response I got when I first approached my employer at the time (going back 15 years ago), at the concept of me telecommuting from home a few days of the week. I had done my homework, so I was prepared to awe him with my responses. And I did. Not only was I working from home 3 days of the week, after 2 months I was a full time telecommuter and within 6 months I was a contract worker. The cost of my office, the benefit package as well as the other fees associated with having an employee on payroll was now a thing of the past for my former employer. In a sense we were now business partners as I was a contracted worker who he wasn’t responsible for any longer.
We’ve discussed the benefits of working from home and how to approach your employer to consider having you work from home in the past, so this is nothing new if you’re a regular reader of this blog. However it seems the concept is still pretty new to many as I’m now seeing a number of published articles dedicated to the subject. Like this one, written by Rachel Kaufman from MediaJobDaily:
The Society for Human Resource Management has written about a telecommuting success story at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. After instituting a “hoteling” option in 2006, defined as telecommuting at least four days out of the week, with the option to access shared office space if necessary, the agency has found that workers participating in the program work just a bit more and cost a lot less.
Hoteling patent examiners worked an average of 66 hours more per year (or an hour and fifteen minutes extra a week) and processed 4% more patent applications, a government report found, for a $1,000-per-year revenue boost. They also use fewer sick days and save a collective $15 million in real estate costs.
The report found that the USPTO could expect to save $1,710 per teleworking employee in the first year and $3,385 in each subsequent year.
More food for thought when you try to tell your boss you should be working from home.
BTW, the title of the article is Another Reason To Telecommute: Government Patent Examiners Work More, Cost Less.
Over the years we’ve been in contact with thousands of hiring employers to locate, research and publish working from home job vacancies for our job seekers to apply for, so the fact that allowing workers to work from home or telecommute saves on resources is nothing new to us. But it is nice to see our industry getting some recognition for the many benefits for both employer and employee.
If you’ve ever considered working from home and your current employer will have nothing to do with it, you must check out our full list of vacant work at home jobs.
If you like this post you'll also like:
Leave your response!