Today marks the last day of National Telework Week, which is an initiative that started in government agencies and is now spreading to other industries as well – even gaining support from Members of Congress.
Teleworking is a win-win-win opportunity, according to the Telework Exchange official Telework website. Employees, agencies, and business’ bottom lines all win from telework arrangements – working in a virtual office environment can be better all-around for many types of organizations.
The official website has tallied at least 39,599 pledges to telework during this week, which will save a total of $2.7 million for U.S. businesses just this week!
Among the companies leading the initiation and pledging to telework are:
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Virginia Department of Education
• Michigan Service Center Multifunctional Team
• Poulsbo, Wash
Looking at the list above – as well as considering giants Cisco and IBM, who both encourage remote working – a telework strategy could work for your buisness year-round as well.
Teleworking, or working from a virtual office, is a concept that is still growing in use – but according to the federal Office of Personnel Management it is “work done outside of the traditional on-site work environment.” This could be from home, a remote shared workspace or even somewhere abroad.
“Telework improves recruitment and retention, improves emergency response preparedness and saves taxpayer money,” said Congressman Gerry Connolly, who represents the 11th District of Virginia, “We just had another snow event in late January where teleworking enabled thousands of federal employees to keep working even when roads were covered in ice and snow.”
