Workers have come a long way with Teleworking and that is why National Telework Week has been organized to recognize employee retention and financial benefits of remote working. Brian Christensen who is one of the employees Cisco System Inc, which is a computer networking firm, recalls how he was forced to move from his home in San Francisco to be near the company’s headquarters in California.
This is because he was always late at work due to the long distance drive. Christensen used to take 90minutes driving to work which was 50 miles away from his home. Despite the harsh conditions, he was expected to work for 10-hour days.
Christensen laughs when he looks at how things have changed as compared to the past 18years. Being the director of information systems at Cisco, Christensen now has more responsibilities to attend to. He is responsible for mobile and home service offering for 63,000 employees with $43 billion Company (Meg par. 1).
Today, Christensen is able to work several days within a week from home and that is why he encourages other clients and co-workers to do the same too. According a survey report, roughly 90 percent of employees are working at least one day a week from home.
Cisco has taken the mandate to promote employee empowerment to facilitate success in their jobs. Better results will be recorded if the employees work from home as compared to the hours they spend in the office.
Being a networking company, Cisco has taken the forefront to facilitate a movement on the benefits of teleworking not only to the benefits of employees but also as a way of making business operations to be more global by attracting and retaining workers of highest quality that will boost the productivity of employees.
Actually it is Cisco Company that has sponsored the National Telework Week which is to begin on Monday. Telework Exchange Company is responsible for organizing the event since the company also promotes teleworking particular in federal government.
The two companies believe that employees can be able to save $ 60 averagely in a week and $ 3000 yearly if they work remotely. A good example is Trademark Office and U.S. Patent which documented savings worth $19million after moving its employees to work remotely. This was more than 14years ago.
The large savings were as a result of reduced transport and real estate costs and a reduction in employee turnover. A total of $ 215 billion can be saved if full-time workers decide to work remotely. The environment will also be spared from tons of 143 million pollutants.
The number of employees working from home has increased steadily since 2004. However, in 2010 the number declined as a result of recession. Most employees feared that they might be jeopardizing their boss by telecommuting.
There are some managers who find it hard to believe in telecommuting. This is one of the reasons why it is not easy to shift every company to teleworking strategies. Only good results will enable managers to think of using teleworking strategies.
Bibliography
Meg, Breslin. Teleworking Has Come a Long Way for Workers. 2012. Web.