The gas price national average is $3.53; the commute for most is about 30-45 minutes, miles put on a vehicle.  How much does that cost every person per year that commutes to work?  The buildings and energy it takes to house a business, how much does that cost every company per year?  These costs have no prejudice; they are fixed except for gas that will probably be higher after you read this.  Information week provided these statistics; the US could save $38 billion dollars annually if 53% of white collar employees worked from home.  Makes sense let’s all work from home and we can save our economy and put more money in our pockets!

Not so fast, can employees actually be productive from home without management there to manage?  Companies are slow to incorporate remote opportunities because the school of thought is in the office; daily meetings,  a social aspect of the office environment, “water cooler” conversation, social media and other “non-work” related web sites use  while at work, is any of this productive?

Telecommuting is a relatively new concept and many organizations have c-level managers that have built careers coming to the office and working diligently.  As management they just can’t see how being home could provide such success.  Managers like to lead and manage; many of them don’t know how to manage without having a team in front of them at all times or don’t know how to solve a problem if they aren’t there to review it.  Most people don’t know how to effectively plan and manage a day in their personal lives, trying to do so for a work schedule will be just as difficult.  Some people already know they wouldn’t get anything done if they worked from home, these people are wise to admit but probably still don’t plan very well.  This is an individual problem, people are just uncomfortable thinking outside of the box, and scared their neck will be on the line if something fails.  Reality check, this all happens in business when people work remotely too.

Considering the vast savings of remote employees, I think it’s time for companies to step it up and incorporate remote opportunity where feasible.  Here’s an idea, train managers and employees teach them how to use technology effectively and clearly define in writing what is expected.  Productivity will be increased because people can spend the time focused on the task not gas prices, a failing economy, a overstuffed day, traffic, and socializing but the projects, timelines, obstacles, and objectives.  Training AKA education, it never gets old!

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