Consider your home office an extension of the workplace. There's an array of convincing arguments and documented facts to justify working from home. Allowing workers to telecommute can be a win-win situation for telemanagers and their talented employees. The state of California's telecommuting pilot program measured productivity increases of 10 percent to 30 percent, and American Express tallied a 20 percent productivity gain for off-site call center employees. Dr. Franklin Becker, a professor at Cornell University and co-author of Workplace by Design, says that 70 percent of desks, offices, and workstations are unoccupied or underoccupied during a typical workday.
Telecommuting allows companies to consolidate office space.
Finally, NCR experienced a net savings of three times the program's cost from its telework program. By contrast, telecommuters can work from home when a minor illness or sick child keeps them from the office. Unisys found that its telecommuters take 33 percent less sick leave than other workers. Teleworkers at Holland America Westours take two fewer days off per year than their office colleagues. Within hours of the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake, teleworkers were conducting business, even though their office buildings had been destroyed.