Companies looking to save money while increasing employee productivity and morale should consider more opportunities for telecommuting, according to a new white paper from Calgary Economic Development and the Telework Research Network.
The report, WORKshift Canada: The Bottom Line on Telework, found that Canadian employers could realize an average of $10,000 savings annually per employee who works from home twice a week. In total, researchers estimated that a twice-weekly telecommuting schedule for the more than four million Canadians whose jobs could reasonably support such an arrangement could save Canadians and their employers more than $53 million.
According to the authors, while 44% of Canadian jobs are telework-compatible, only 3% of Canadians consider home their primary workplace, and another 9% have part-time telecommuting arrangements with their employers.
According to the report, “Talent shortages, changing workforce dynamics and employee burnout—key drivers of workplace flexibility before the recession—will return with a vengeance. Research by Gallup shows than 70% of the workforce is not engaged. They’re either wandering around in a fog or actively undermining their co-workers’ success. They’re burned out [and] disenfranchised, and [more than] 80% are ready to jump ship.”
Based on both qualitative and quantitative research, the authors estimate that businesses offering employees the opportunity to work from home twice a week would realize a 20% increase in productivity, a 6.3% reduction in absenteeism and a 7% drop in employee attrition rates.
Read the full report here.
