Savings from Telework

The Telework Exchange on Tuesday unveiled the impact of nearly 40,000 employees nationwide who teleworked one week in February.

During a webcast on Tuesday, the Telework Exchange and Cisco announced that last month's Telework Week event - in which 39,694 employees pledged to telework -- collectively saved $2.7 million in commuting costs and spared the environment 1,818 tons of emissions. Those employees also saved two hours from their commutes on average for each day teleworked, the study found.

More specifically, 86 percent of Telework Week pledges were made by federal government workers. Expanding telework for federal workers -- who currently are under a two-year pay freeze -- could become a powerful retention tool, as teleworking two days per week translates into a $3,439 annual raise, the study found.

Telework Exchange and Cisco also found that 60 percent of organizations believe their management team is more open to and encouraging of telework than they were a year ago. Improved tracking of results -- such as productivity, customer satisfaction, employee longevity, real estate costs and energy savings -- may help bring management on board, the groups noted.

In addition, of those participants who are part of Generation Y, 68 percent said they will look at their next job within government or elsewhere based on the availability of telework, the study found. "The next-generation workforce is not just going to leverage telework; they're going to demand telework," said Dan Kent, director of solutions and chief technology officer for Cisco Federal. "We need to start getting agencies to really deliver on the telework promise."