Examining the Potential Savings
Despite the apparent benefits offered by the “New World of Work,” the number of employees regularly working outside the office remains low:
| • |
Microsoft recently sponsored a study by the World Wildlife Fund. The study found that 17.5% of U.S. employees work outside the office at least once a month, with the average doing so 2.7 days per month, while 8% of European employees work outside the office at least once a month, with an average of one day a month. |
This missed opportunity negatively impacts productivity, employee engagement and the environment:
| • |
The average commuter around the world travels 3,000-5,000 km (approx 1,800-3,000 miles) a year back and forth to the office.For three quarters of Americans, that's 50 minutes a day traveling alone in traffic.Over the course of the year, commuting results in 350 Mt of Co2 released into the atmosphere and untold hours of unproductive time spent by employees sitting in stressful traffic congestion.
|
The costs associated with failing to realize the benefits of the “New World of Work” will only grow as companies become more global and decentralized:
| • |
Collectively, air and road travel are expected to account for approximately 1,370 MMT of Co2 emissions in the U.S. by 2020.
|
Technology is no longer the main obstacle preventing organizations from embracing flexible work. Organizations can replace many high carbon activities with flexible work arrangements, virtual meetings and other solutions already enabled with today’s unified communications technology. While the solutions are beginning to be used on a wider basis, the enormous potential to drive down global carbon emissions and inefficient business costs with unified communications technology has yet to be realized at scale:
| • |
The World Wildlife Fund estimates that increasing telecommuting and virtual meetings “could, without any dramatic measures, help to save more than 3 billion metric tons of Co2 emissions in a few decades; this is the equivalent to approximately half the current U.S. Co2 emissions. “
|
| • |
In the US, reduced commuting accounts for 75% of the potential savings, with the other 25% coming from reduced air travel. Savings on this level are possible when flexwork is embraced at scale – with 30-45% of workers are flexworking 2-4 days a week and 1/3 to 2/3 of business trips are replaced with virtual meetings.3 |
| • |
Realizing the savings outline in the WWF study are only possible when companies and governments partner to create supportive policies, and when developed countries work with developing countries, such as China and India, to drive global adoption of these technologies alongside economic development.
|
Dispelling the myth: Cost effective, secure technology is readily available
Today’s flexworker has access to virtually all of the client- and server-based tools they use in the office. Based upon a survey of 18 organizations with successful telework programs, the following technologies are the most important:
| • |
Pervasive broadband, both fixed and mobile, that enables employees to connect seamlessly from anywhere through secure networks.
|
| • |
Unified communication that integrates all communication into a single, easy to use interface:
|
| • |
Presence status, which shows the real time availability based upon status on the network (free, busy, in a meeting, in a call, offline, etc) and ensures employees can be reached instantly by the most appropriate means
|
| • |
Instant messaging
|
| • |
Secure mobile email and calendaring
|
| • |
Voice over IP
|
| • |
Video conferencing ice over IP and videoconference to ensure
|
| • |
Hardware Devices
|
| • |
Laptops and/or smart phones that allow employees to remain connected from any location
|
| • |
USB Headsets that plug into laptops and replace traditional desk phones
|
| • |
USB webcams for video conferencing
|
The cost to provide workers with complete software based unified communication solution from Microsoft costs less than $100 per user per year, according to a report by Wainhouse and Unicom consulting.4 This includes software licensing, deployment
and maintenance costs. As far as hardware is concerned, affordable USB compatible headsets and web cams costing approximately a $100 each also are now widely available.
Realizing the opportunity at scale
Gaining widespread acceptance of anytime, anyplace work involves changing the overall work culture. Executive leadership support is critical. Without it, it’s unlikely that front line managers and individual employees will have the implicit permission to craft the formal policies and programs for success.
The true flexworker must be trusted to get work done – to maintain a full work day, albeit with flexible hours and the discipline to be productive. Management by objective must be the norm, so that workers have clear objectives, and are evaluated upon measurable results delivered rather than face time.
The World Wildlife Fund recommends that governments establish data collection systems and standards to measure flexwork and travel avoidance, and support programs for flexwork technology and programs in developing countries.
Public sector organizations also must play a large role in reducing regulatory hurdles, providing incentives and sharing best practices. The Climate Group found in its report Smart2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age that tax regulations can hinder flexwork. For example, New York state taxes out-of-state employees who work for in-state employers. But the worker's state also taxes them, leading to double tax situation.5
The Worldlife Fund recommends
that governments establish data collection systems and standards to measure flexwork and travel avoidance, and support programs to for flexwork technology and programs in developing countries.
The Perfect Storm for Telework
To realize the savings outlined in the WWF study, organizations must evolve to enable the flexibleworker. Thankfully, many factors already are converging to overcome obstacles and make flexible work more widely accepted:
With technology solutions readily available, and so many benefits to the organization and individual employees, now is the perfect time to realize the potential of flexible working. Cost effective, secure and reliable, Microsoft's software powered UC solution can enable IT to deploy a solution at scale, improving productivity and business outcomes across the company, while saving money and protecting the environment.
Now that's good for business and good for the Earth.
