Did You Observe National Telework Week?

This week (March 5-9) is the second-annual National Telework Week, observed and promoted by Telework Exchange: http://www.teleworkexchange.com/.

For those who don't know, telecommuting is working from home or a "telecommute center" instead of driving into the office everyday. Staying home decreases your out-of-pocket transportation costs (gas, wear and tear on your vehicle, tolls, etc.) but also improves air quality and lessens the impact on our aging roadways. According to the National Telework Web site, more than 64,000 pledges have signed up for Telework Week this week, collectively saving more than $4.7 million in commuting costs in just one week!

GVF currently offers telecommuting options for all full time employees who are able to work away from the office. Since we started the telecommute program in 2010, which allows us to work from home two days per month, I have personally telecommuted 22 days. That's a whole month of saved gas, mileage on my aging car and sanity -- staying off Route 422 at rush hour is definitely a good way to start and end the work day!

A quick estimate on my savings include:

• nearly $100
• 600 miles saved on my car
• 25.6 gallons of fuel
• 498 pounds of CO2 emissions saved

I know a handful of GVF's partners offer telecommuting options to their employees, and we encourage telecommuting at all levels - even if it rarely that you can work from home.

Does your employer offer telecommuting options? Do you need assistance in getting a telecommuting program started, or just need some statistics to bring to your manager or boss to encourage them to consider it? GVF is happy to help - we have a full policy in place, as well as employee agreements to ensure work is getting done even when we're not in the office.

If you need any assistance in getting this started at your company, please reach out to us!

Posted in: Carissa Bobenchik,events