Whether you are an employer looking to save money and become more environmentally responsible or an employee who would rather skip the commute and work out of their house, there are many reasons to turn employees into telecommuters:

1.  Reduce the Rent – Fewer employees in the office means less office space needed.  Down size the office and save on rent.

2.  Lower Utility Bills – Less employees in the office and smaller digs translates to lower utility bills.

3.  Purchase Less Furniture – With employees supplying their own office furniture at home, the company does not need to supply desks for them in the office.  If you already own desks and chairs that will no longer be needed, sell or donate them.

4.  Lower Insurance Premiums – Smaller office space and less furniture should lower your insurance premiums.

5.  Fewer Sick Days – Employees that are sick but still able to drag themselves out of bed, can work even if they need to visit the bathroom 12 times during the day.  What’s more, sick employees will not be spreading their germs to everyone else.

6.  Flexible Work Hours/Working Part Time – Many jobs can get done with part time employees resulting in lower costs. When employees do not have a time consuming and distant commute to and from “the office”, they find it more desirable to work part time hours.

7.  Save on Office Supplies – With more employees working at home and less in the office, office supplies will not be so rapidly consumed.

8.  All Employees Are More Productive – Let’s accept that when you have several employees working near each other, they find ways to distract each other from their job.  Some isolation can lead to better focus and more productivity.

9.  Less Overhead – Your overhead will be dramatically less when you start saving money on rent, utility bills, furniture, insurance, sick days and paid hours.  With less overhead, it will be easier to generate a profit and be more competitive.

10.  Less Driving – Without the commute, employees will spend a lot less time driving. Commuting is very unproductive time that can be spent on more hours working or doing other personal activities.

11.  Personal and Business Car Retain Value – Whether your employees drive a personal or a company car, working from home means less miles on the car and slower depreciation of value.  It might even justify the reduction of company owned cars.

12.  Lower Car Insurance – The miles driven each year factors into personal car insurance premiums.  The more you drive, the more chances you have for an accident, the more you pay for insurance.  Likewise, driving less equates to lower premiums.

13.  Fewer Visits to the Gas Pump – I am sure this one is obvious, but I will point it out anyway.  Driving less = less gas needed.  This is really important with sharply rising fuel costs.  We all benefit from doing something to help reduce our incredible dependency of foreign oil providers.

14.  Reduced Car Maintenance Expenses – When a car is driven fewer miles, you have fewer oil changes, tune-ups, tire rotations, tire purchase and general maintenance problems with the car.

15.  Daycare or After School Care – Parents can avoid sending their children to daycare and after school care since they will already be home.  The added peace of mind about the care and safety of your children is priceless.

16.  Children Are Sick Less – Daycares are germ factories.  Staying home reduces a child’s exposure to contagious illnesses.  When the child gets sick, parents miss work.  When the child gets sick, parents get sick.  When we get sick, there are added medical costs on top of lost wages.

17.  Higher Rates of Employee Retention – Whether it’s avoiding the hassles of the commute, saving money on a car and the related expenses or saving money on daycare, telecommuting is an employee benefit that too few employers offer.  This company offered benefit ranks high in value to the employee.

18.  Reduced Management Needs – With a higher retention of employees, managers and human resource departments will spend less time hiring and training.

19.  More Efficient and Knowledgeable Staff – This also plays off the high rate of employee retention.  With more fully trained and experienced staff they can be more knowledgeable and efficient.  Your company will benefit more from the invested time and training in staff with less employee turnover.

20.  Better Customer Service Experience – Veteran knowledgeable staff members deliver better customer service and provide a better overall customer service experience with translates into happier customers and their retention.

21.  Employee Recruitment – Offering the benefit of employees working from home is a strong recruiting tool.

22.  Increase Pool of Applicants – Telecommuting will open up a new pool of potential applicants including stay at home parents.  Many of the parents with great job skills have chosen the role of family primary care giver.  Now you can tap into their talents.  Also, the distance to the office for the employee is a non-issue. The geographic area you seek applicants can be much greater.

23.  Reduced Carbon Footprint – The miles each employee drives each year will be dramatically reduce by eliminating their commute.  The carbon footprint of each employee will be reduced by driving fewer miles.  The reduced energy consumption and space demands at the office have a positive impact on the carbon footprint.

24.  Relieve Congestion on the Highways – Each car removed from the morning and afternoon commutes makes a difference in the traffic congestion of our communities.

25.  Reduce Smog in Polluted Cities – Make a difference in city smog by reducing your employees’ carbon footprint and by also relieving traffic congestion.  Not only will you save emissions from your own employees vehicles, but when everyone else gets to work just a little faster, emissions will be save from their cars, too.

26.  Lessen Dependence on Foreign Oil – Fewer gallons of gas will be consumed by limiting the amount of miles driven by your company’s employees and making a fractional improvement in the commute of the remaining cars on the road.  Consuming fewer gallons of gas will make a difference in America’s dependence on Foreign Oil.

27.  Boast Your Company’s Record on Green and Patriotism – Brag and promote the difference your company is making in the environment and what it is doing to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

28.  Telecommuters Can Be Managed – With a premium Hosted PBX service or Hosted VoIP provider, telecommuting employees can be managed just as an employee who works out of the office.  They can be managed by monitoring (listening to) their extension and generating reports on their call activity.

29.  Easier and Cheaper Than Ever – Today’s technology makes it easier and cheaper than ever to set up a fully functional telecommuting employee.

I hope this article has been helpful to you.  Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.