Telecommuting, the ultimate green job?
Photo: mccun934/Flickr 
Although today’s technology allows for employees to easily telecommute, a surprisingly small number of people actually do so. I think that corporate culture is to blame, at least in part, for the relatively low percentage of people who telecommute.
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Comments(20)
Posted By telecommuting jobs - Fri, Sep 18 2009 at 2:29 PM ESThttp://freelanceradar.blogspot.com/
The surge of renewable energy jobs in the nation, people often associate green jobs with wind turbine manufacturing or solar panel installation. Naturally, these industries are considered green, but other trends are emerging. One growing job trend that is beginning to make its mark on the green jobs movement is telecommuting.
Posted By Joyce Fredo, Flexible Resources - Fri, Aug 07 2009 at 10:38 AM ESTWe teach companies how to make telecommuting work
We agree that telecommuting is the greenest way to work, keeping cars off the road, reducing cost and gas consumption, and also allowing people as much as 3 more hours a day to work. It also allows small businesses to grow without having to incur added overhead by needed bigger office space. One obstacle we often see is managers who worry about managing a staff that is not always in the office. Clearly, the best employees remain productive and focused at home. In fact, most find it less.... More
Posted By Melissa Hincha-Ownby - Wed, Aug 05 2009 at 2:24 PM ESTGreat comments
It has been great to read all of these comments. I first telecommuted in the late 1990s - it was just a few times a month but it was a nice break. I also felt refreshed when I returned to the office.
Now I'm a 100% work-from-home type and it works very well for me but I do see how it may not be the ideal working situation for everyone.
Posted By GreenErinF - Wed, Aug 05 2009 at 12:50 PM ESTsame here
I tend to agree with you, Patti - I laud the efforts, but I've worked from home before and I was miserable and tended to be unmotivated (of course, I hated my job at the time, too...haha). I just don't think many companies have the technology available to really allow employees to telecommute.
Posted By Patti Ghezzi - Wed, Aug 05 2009 at 12:07 PM ESTCan be isolating
I am glad I work from home. It helps me lead a greener lifestyle and keep my home life on track, not to mention more time with my child and dogs. But stories and accompanying photos often romanticize working from home. It can be isolating and lonely. I miss working in an office with fantastic people. I laughed a lot back then. By the time my husband gets home, I'm wagging my tail, desperate for someone to talk to and laugh with. We are already a culture that encourages isolated lifestyles..... More
Posted By Anonymous - Tue, Aug 04 2009 at 11:18 PM ESTFace-to-face bandwidth
I once read that our minds process over a terabyte of visual and auditory data every second. Telephone conversations fit nicely in 64k/s. Video conferencing is better, but most systems max out at ~512k/s.
I think that the resistance to telecommuting is less about corporate control culture than about communicating good working relationships at a distance. Once we figure out that problem, telecommuting will explode.
The iPhone generation gets it. The rest of us need to catch.... More
Posted By Anonymous - Tue, Aug 04 2009 at 2:41 PM ESTtelecommuting for corporates at the top of the pyramid
Every job I have held, could have been done from home. Unfortanately "working from home" can only be done by "trusted employees" and is only for the corporate folks at the top the pyrmaid schemes
Posted By Alison Kerr - Tue, Aug 04 2009 at 10:08 AM ESTOther Benefits
My husband has worked from home for most of the last 10 years. Aside from benefits already mentioned are:
- we get to tolerate the house at temperatures which mean less A/C and heating
- my whole family eats healthy meals prepared from scratch
When my husband commuted he worked in an office where the temperature was kept the same all year. When he got home at night he couldn't tolerate the kind of temperatures I wanted the winter thermostat set at after being in a warm office.... More
Posted By Grey Garvin - Tue, Aug 04 2009 at 9:02 AM ESTTelecommuting more than saving energy....
Over the past 12 years, I've worked 3 years in an office & the rest out of my home. And I have a (very successful) brother who has worked out of a home office for 23 straight years! Benefits:
1. yes, less cars on the roads
2. but also more people in the neighborhood...I informally keep an eye on stuff around my street
3. great for my kids
4. great for other people's kids (as you would imagine, I'm the back-up "safe house" if a parent can't make it home right on.... More
Posted By Anonymous - Tue, Aug 04 2009 at 12:29 AM ESTWho cares how green it is
I've worked from home for several years and it is awesome. You get back your commute time which in my case was a few hours a day. My car stopped accumulating miles. I have a 2002 that has only 54k miles on it. Sure you could use public transportation but that just makes it take even longer to get to work and back. I am being 'green' with my own time and that is where it really counts. You can tell your boss its to save the environment, but the real reason is obvious.
Posted By Anonymous - Tue, Aug 04 2009 at 12:09 AM ESTAbsolutely
John Davis neglects the FACT that the office can be half its usual size if half the workers telecommute. My employer does not have an office space for me, I could not work at work because I would have no desk and nowhere to plug in my computer. Most businesses rent space and they can just rent less. The worker's computer is on no matter where they work, that is moot. And YES, I do work during the time I would otherwise be commuting. It's called making a good impression on the job, and a.... More
Posted By Byron - Mon, Aug 03 2009 at 11:22 PM ESTHome energy use insignificant
As someone who telelcommutes, I don't think you can say that telecommuters use significantly more energy at home that those that are away. You are not going to turn your heat or AC completely off when you are not home. the savings really come from the main office being smaller in the long run as well as the gas savings. Then throw in that I don't waste an hour or more each day driving = better quality of life.
Posted By Sarah - Mon, Aug 03 2009 at 10:49 PM ESThome energy usage
Sure you save energy in the commute, but what about the energy it takes to heat or air condition dozens of individual homes versus one office? Commuting to work using public transportation is much greener than telecommuting.
Posted By Anonymous - Mon, Aug 03 2009 at 9:56 PM ESTGreen Lies
Show me a study that includes the increased cost of energy the telecommuter uses (Lights/Heating/Cooling/Television/Etc). Everyone cites the savings of the commute (car emissions, time spent in traffic). I'd love to see an employee that works an additional X amount of time that they would be in traffic.You work 8 to 5. If you drive an hour each way, you are not about to work 7 to 6. There's increased cost of heating and cooling the house. An Office building is still heated and cooled regardless.... More
Posted By Lori - Wed, Aug 12 2009 at 10:56 AM ESTTelecommuting Study
Check out this article: "Telecommuting Saves Carbon Emissions" http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/138062/telecommuting_saves...
Posted By Anonymous - Mon, Aug 03 2009 at 7:20 PM ESTfederal commuters?
The Wa Post article you cite stating "...only 7.7 percent of 1.8 million federal employees telecommute" detracts a tad from your credibility since that article was published in 2005. Otherwise, useful post.
Posted By Liz - Mon, Aug 03 2009 at 6:00 PM ESTState Telework Day
Reston, VA employer TANDBERG is supporting Statewide Telework Day by encouraging its employees to use video conferencing to work from home today. With half of our staff (75) teleworking, we are eliminating almost two metric tons of carbon emissions and saving almost 100 hours of productivity by not sitting in traffic. Read more about it here: http://bit.ly/lZ8z4
Going Green And Telecommuting
I believe telecommuting will increase drastically over the next decade. With the tough economic times people seeking are work from every possible angle, and telecommuting is a really good attraction to many different people. Working from home does really have it benefits, not only is a way of "going green" obviously by not driving to work each day you are saving the environment.
I have heard of Flexjobs, but have you heard of Freelancers Oasis? They simply provide jobs where you.... More