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Telework Exchange Study Shows Potential $13.9 Billion Annual Federal
Telework Savings
(Wireless News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
Telework Exchange, a public-private partnership addressing telework in
government, announced the results of the Telework Eligibility Profile:
Feds Fit the Bill study.
Underwritten by Tandberg the study reveals that Feds are telework
friendly, based on responses to the Telework Exchange Online Telework
Eligibility Gizmo, a quiz-based calculator that helps employees
determine telework eligibility.
The study showed 96 percent of respondents should be teleworking, yet
only 20 percent currently do. Extrapolating from the Online Telework
Eligibility Gizmo participants to the total Federal workforce, the
study reveals that if all Federal employees who are eligible to
telework full time were to do so, Feds could realize $13.9 billion
savings in commuting costs annually and eliminate 21.5 billion pounds
of pollutants out of the environment each year.
Key study findings include:
- Knowledge is Power: One in three Federal employees is still not aware
of their agency s telework program. Study participants cite reducing
commuting time/costs, maintaining work/life balance, and continuity of
operations (COOP) as top telework benefits - Ideal Telework World: Feds
are telework friendly out of 96 percent of respondents who are eligible
to telework, 79 percent are eligible to telework full time -
Eligibility Deficit: Forty-two percent of respondents are not aware if
they are eligible to telework. Ninety percent of these respondents are,
in fact, eligible to telework. If Feds who are unaware of their
telework status could telework full time, they would collectively save
$5 billion in commuting costs and spare the environment 7.7 billion
pounds of pollutants annually - Fitting the Profile: To telework
effectively, candidates identified the following requirements
communicating via e-mail and phone, remote access to an organization s
IT infrastructure, a safe alternative work environment, and the ability
to control one s schedule to a significant degree
The Federal government has been slow to adopt telework, said Joel
Brunson, President, Tandberg Federal. However, with recruitment and
retention benefits, growing traffic concerns, continuity of operations
requirements, and increasing environmental awareness, we are finally
reaching a tipping point. Telework will soon become a standard
operating procedure in many Federal agencies.
As the study indicates, the benefits for Feds wallets are staggering,
said Stephen W.T. O Keeffe, Executive Director, Telework Exchange.
Teleworking just three days a week translates to a 60 percent reduction
in commuting costs saving the average Federal employee nearly $6,000
annually. In fact, the Federal government telework deficit is
equivalent to the gross domestic product of Jamaica. To offset the
amount of CO2 emissions Feds disperse in the environment by commuting,
we would need to plant 32 million trees a year. Let s get these people
off the roadways.
((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))
((Distributed on behalf of 10Meters via M2 Communications Ltd -
http://www.m2.com))
((10Meters - http://www.10meters.com))
Copyright ? 2008 Wireless News
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