Gas-Saving Moment of the Day: Telecommuting

A growing trend that’s becoming easier and easier as technology advances, telecommuting is a sure-fire way to save on gas by cutting — or at least reducing — the number of days you drive to and from work. Plus, it doesn’t carry the negative connotation of not working on Fridays, like yesterday’s four-day workweek idea.

With email, instant messaging, Blackberrys, iPhones and all the rest, telecommuting has become a simpler proposition than ever, and furthermore, in the age of $4 a gallon gas, it makes mountains of sense. Even for companies or businesses that require your presence, there may be ways to increase the number of days you can work from home.

For instance, try clustering meetings on certain days and grouping work that can be done from home on others. Conference calls, chat rooms and teleconferencing equipment can all help ease the transition to making workers more mobile and capable of working from remote locations.

Do you already telecommute? Would telecommuting work for your job? If so, what would some of the obstacles be? Let us know with your comments.

Related:
More Gas-Saving Moments of the Day (KickingTires)

Comments

Telecommuting is a great idea, for those jobs that can accommodate it. It's not a magic cure-all because there are things that can only be done at work.

Your thoughts are good but the picture sends the wrong message. Telecommuting is not a substitute for childcare. The woman pictured would be fired from most telecommuting positions if her boss saw her.

Chuck Wilsker
The Telework Coalition

We have upper level mgt people that are allowed to do that - most of the time they're screwing around and not really doing anything. I know someone that is allowed to work from home but he admits that he doesn't do a whole lot, spend most of his time running errands and since he has a blackberry he can stay on top of his work.

Chuck's right. She obviously has spent all her time cleaning the kitchen.

I agree with Chuck. That photo is exactly what you can't do while working at home.

But I disagree with freethinker. Telecommuting is a magic cure-all. I think if only 20% of commuters were off the road traffic jams would be greatly reduced (ie: more than 20%) for those still driving.

I agree that for jobs that CAN support telecommuting, it can reduce traffic, pollution, and oil consumption. However, I doubt the gains will be as tremendous as the hype. Remember, not everyone works at an office with a desk and computer that could just as easily be anywhere- at home, at an office, or, gasp, outsourced in another country. For instance, a computer programmer could work from the office, from home, or Asia, or Eastern Europe, or whatever, but how about your dentist?

As for the childcare argument, keep in mind that even when gas was cheap, telecommuting worked well for parents with office-type jobs because it offered more scheduling flexibility. The parent could take off for a few minutes to pick up the kids from elementary school, for instance.

Yes, telecommuting is not that easy a task as it appears to be and definitely not so as shown in the picture. It requires a lot of self discipline for telecommuting.
Stacy

In my opinion telecommuting is possible for professionals but it has to involve every employer AND Yes it can involve every Desk-worker !!!!
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This means Team-Building, Training on the job, Trust and unofficial gossip to match ideas....all during Telecommuting
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We can give this trough Full-time HQ Video and Audio for every employer and manager.
Constantly seeing each other will really build a team.
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Check it out at hr.telebeing in the Netherlands (nl)
or join the linkedin group: “teleworking”
Ruud Padt