It's difficult today to walk through a residence
listed on the real estate market which does not
boast a space designated for a home office or
work area. In fact, now in 2007, just over 80 of America's workforce began a
trend where by, all or some of their work week
was done from the comfort of home, not the office
downtown. With increasing accessibility to
internet services, and expanding
telecommunications systems, the office now is
considered portable. Today, in 2007, 19% of America's workforce telecommutes.

With a few years of telecommuting now under our
belts, corporate American executives still are
not totally sold on the concept with 69 of corporate executives
struggle with believing in telecommuting.

In 2006, the organization, Manpower, conducted a ?
Flexible Working Survey?. Through this survey it
was discovered 77 of
those same employees stated that simply having
the choice was ideal. 80 claimed it would improve
relationships with spouses and life partners. 70 said telecommuting would make
them more loyal to their employer. 80 of
employees, due to the increasing cost of auto
fuel, were thinking of quitting their jobs to
find work closer to home.

Imagine if you were an employer with 100
employees working in a traditional office setting.
If the cost of training in a new employee was $
9000.00, then having to replace 31 of those
employees who quit due to fuel costs, would cost
you $279,000.00. Of your 100 employees, if each
in office employee represented a sales volume of $
120,000.00 per year, by allowing 25, then
your business? increase in sales volume per
telecommuting employee would equal $42,000.00 for
an increase in corporate sales by $1,050,000.00.
If you save $6000.00 per telecommuting employee
in office rental space, then 25 employees
multiplied by 6000 equals a savings in office
rental space of $150,000.00. In this scenario,
each telecommuting employee represents to the
company bottom line, an increase of $48,000.00
per year.

Lets look at our scenario from another approach.
If each telecommuting employee represents a
revenue increase of $48,000.00 per year, and
those employees are being paid on average $50,000.
00 per year, factor in the average telecommuting
employee saving $2500.00 per year in direct
commuting costs, by telecommuting, a company ends
up with employees who theoretically pay for
themselves, by working from home. Yet still, 69 of corporate American executives
struggle in their belief of the benefits of
telecommuting.

Telecommuting'is it pooped out, or pepped up? The
answer depends on corporate America's ability to
lead.