The Chicago area’s winter season of 2014 is the third coldest and third snowiest on record. Spring doesn’t officially begin until March 20, which means more snow and cold could be in the forecast. Given those cheery statistics, more commuters (and more employers) are thinking about telecommuting as a possible commute option, especially when faced with transit service delays and hazardous driving conditions due to the weather.
As our region faces snowy commutes and frigid temperatures even in March, the timing on Telework Week 2014—which is this week, March 3 to 7—couldn’t be better. This week is the fourth annual global initiative to demonstrate the value of mobility and telework, sponsored by the Mobile Work Exchange, a public-private partnership based in Alexandria, Virginia. During Telework Week 2014, people can pledge to work from home at least one day a week. It’s geared to encourage employers to consider offering telework as an employee benefit.
Based on 2013 results, more than 136,000 people pledged, resulting in the following savings:
- $12.3 million in commuting costs saved
- 665,936 hours gained back into participants’ days
- 7,892 tons of pollutants removed from the air
- 12.1 million miles that were not driven
As part of the Commute Options pilot, Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) discovered a growing interest in telework among participating employers. The pilot used two surveys, a pre-pilot survey and a post-pilot survey, to gauge why employees drive alone to work and how to coax them out of that habit. Several employers participating in the pilot formalized telework policies, and the percentage of employees who worked remotely grew from the pre- to post- survey, particularly at our participating suburban employers.
MPC and many other companies across the Chicago region encouraged employees to telework on Monday, Jan. 6, due to inclement weather. However, according to Cindy Auten, general manager of Mobile Work Exchange, the best time to strategize about working remotely is before the cold front appears on the weather radar. “When you only offer it during snowstorms, you’re going to see some hiccups.” These words proved prescient when a well-timed snow storm hit the D.C. area during Telework Week last year, knocking out power for 60,000 homes.
Not all employers are good candidates for telework, and not all employees want to telework. But for those who do, or are looking at this as an option, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently offered the following tips to help businesses and employees work from home productively:
Ensure you have the right tools to do the job. Encourage your business’s leaders to use modern technology to the fullest through a communications system that seamlessly integrates the office with employees’ homes...
Set projects aside for teleworking. Some projects cater more easily to telework than others. Identifying those projects and capitalizing on the opportunity will make your telework time more productive...
Keep your team on the same page...A solution that manages workflow and tracks edits and feedback within documents lets team members see the status of a project in real time...
Answer the phone. Not answering your phone while teleworking makes you look bad because coworkers will speculate you’re not being productive...
Keep your surroundings to yourself...Being cozy has its benefits over cube life but that doesn’t mean those stuck in the office want to hear about it, especially if they had to go out in the cold or sit in rush hour traffic.
To find out more about Telework Week, visit the Mobile Work Exchange’s website.