When it comes to telework and remote working arrangements, one of the toughest things to get your hands around is how much money doing it actually saves.
Leaders in telework — such as IBM, which reportedly saves $100 million annually with it its North America sales and distribution unit alone — report some pretty impressive savings, but that still hasn’t convinced a lot of organizations (like one I used to work for) that it makes sense and is economically feasible.
Well, for organizations like that, I have a question: would $1.5 billion in savings due to telework change your mind? That’s what the state of California (which sadly needs all the help it can get) can reportedly save, per year, by letting employees work from home two days per week.
Here’s the story, from the Sacramento Bee‘s State Worker blog. If a terribly managed state like California could save this much from letting some state employees work from home, what could your much more professionally run organization get out of such an arrangement? If you don’t allow workers to telework or do their thing remotely, and you’re a manager, executive, or HR pro in a position to make it happen, well, you should be asking yourself this question.
A new study concludes that California could save $1.5 billion annually if employees with jobs that could be done from home would telework two days per week.
Most of the savings would come from increased productivity, lower absenteeism and reduced turnover, says the Telework Research Network, that describes itself as a consulting firm “that specializes in modeling the economic, societal, and environmental benefits of telework and workplace flexibility.” Teleworking also could save the state several million dollars in real estate expenses.
The Southern California-based company announced the telework savings estimates in advance of its participation in The Work Anywhere Symposium on Sept. 22 at California State University, Sacramento.