Benefits for Employers

Telework initiatives deliver many benefits for businesses. Even if only some of your staff telework, your enterprise could still benefit. To find out how much you could gain, use the benefit calculator or the more comprehensive cost-benefit analysis (XLS).
(The estimates of potential benefit provided here are based on a wide range of case studies and newspaper reports, many of which are highlighted in the case studies section of this website.)

There can be many tangible benefits:

Recruitment and retention: Being able to offer flexibility can reduce avoidable staff turnover by over 20 per cent. With staff replacement costing 75 per cent or more of salary, this is a significant saving, even before training and retention costs are considered. (Consultants Pohleen Kean calculated, in 2002, that the cost of turnover and replacing staff is as high as 150 per cent of salary.)

Productivity: Managers have reported that their employees are between eight per cent and 40 per cent more productive. Teleworkers do more—and better—work, in general:

• An Australian study (Sensis, 2005) found that 17 per cent of employers experienced improved productivity;
• An International Labour Organisation study (in the early ’90s) found productivity improvements were around 11 per cent among teleworkers;
• A survey of teleworkers and their supervisors by Sulzer Infra CBX puts the improvement at 45 per cent;
• Bell Atlantic Corporation has said that 25 hours spent working at home is the equivalent of 40 office hours;
• A British Telecom Study reported by the Gartner Group indicated that the average teleworker works 11 per cent more hours than an office counterpart. They also found that reduced costs for office space and other overhead items save employers an additional amount equal to 17 per cent of annual salary costs; and
• According to the C Grantham Institute for Study of Distributed Work, you can get $2 of improved productivity for every $1 spent on equipment.

Space saving: The amount of space your organisation saves will depend on many things and savings of up to 80 per cent have been reported (AT&T). Even a ten per cent saving in space could be the difference between profit and loss.

Absenteeism: Absent staff can cost up to $400 a day (according to Australia Post) and telework can reduce absenteeism by as much as 80 per cent (Joanne Pratt, 1999). Curtin University puts the potential saving lower, at 63 per cent, but it is still a significant benefit.

Staff morale: Improvements of 80 per cent have been reported across the whole company (Southern New England Telephone).
Becoming 'Carbon Neutral': Controlling business emissions of harmful gases can have many benefits. These include showing environmental responsibility; creating marketing opportunities; adding value to products and services; addressing concerns expressed by customers; and responding to supply chain requirements. Reducing the emissions of a company's commuting employees is an important part of this.

Service: Clients and customers report quicker response and better service from teleworkers.

Saving money: The costs of heating, air-conditioning, car parks, lighting and more, will drop as more employees start teleworking.

Other benefits, reported in the 2005 Sensis survey of Australian small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) included:

• Improved information access;
• Time savings;
• Improved communications;
• Increased sales;
• More face-to-face contact with clients; and
• Easier contact with employees.

Such tangible savings alone may be enough to justify considering a telework initiative but there can be many more benefits:

• With staff able to start their working day without first commuting to the office, clients and customers experience improved contact and response times leading to large improvements in client retention and value.
• With the spread of telework, new markets and services can be promoted. Enterprises can also take advantage of time zones and improve their service to overseas markets.
• With flexible work arrangements and locations, enterprises are able to react better to new environments, respond to changing staff requirements and support new tasks.
• With better response times, improved service, lower costs and happier, more motivated and productive staff (who have long experience with the organisation) organisations are more able to compete in rapidly changing markets. Such a competitive edge can be achieved through teleworking.
• An organisation that implements telework can claim great rewards in terms of ‘corporate citizenship’. The organisation can be seen to be helping to reduce traffic and energy consumption while demonstrating mastery of new technologies. It can become an employer of choice and a ‘family-friendly employer’.