The Economy and Economic Development
State (of Maryland) Encourages Flexibility for Baltimore-Washington Commuters
February 20, 2011 , By Alexander Pyles, Capital News Service
A recent report found that area (DC/Baltimore) commuters spend between 50 and 70 hours a year stuck in rush hour traffic. For more than a decade, state government has allowed its employees to craft more flexible schedules and is urging others to follow suit.
Click here to read the entire article.
Major Transportation Bill Advances (in Virginia)
February 10, 2011, By Barbara Comstock
Provisions in this bill provides a tax credit to employers for expenses incurred in allowing employees to telework beginning on or after January 1, 2012, through 2013. An employer would be eligible for a credit of up to $1,200 per teleworking employee.
Click here to read the entire article.
Telework Could Save America $750 Million a Day
February 9, 2011 – According to the Telework Research Network, if the 41 million Americans with telework-compatible jobs worked from home just one day a week the U.S. savings would total $772 million including:
- $494 million in commuter costs
- $185 million from 2.3 million barrels of oil saved
- $ 93 million from 775 fewer traffic accidents
Plus the environment would be spared 423,000 tons of greenhouse gas-the equivalent of taking 77,000 cars off the road for a year.
Inspired by then Virginia Governor Tim Kaine in 2009, advocacy organizations throughout the country have joined the effort to raise awareness of the environmental, economic, and societal benefits of telework. Over 14,000 have already pledged to participate.
“The savings above are just the tip of the iceberg,” says Kate Lister, principal researcher of the Telework Research Network an organization that specializes in evaluating the financial impact of workplace flexibility. “If you add the many employer, employee and community benefits, once-weekly telework could save the nation $350 billion a year and potentially eliminate our oil imports from both Libya and Kuwait.”
For companies, those benefits include increased productivity, reduced office space, and lower turnover and absenteeism. The Telework Research Network’s web-based Telework Savings Calculator, shows that companies could save over $6,500 per once-a-week teleworker. “We’ve built a conservative model,” says Tom Harnish, senior scientist at the Telework Research Network. “The assumptions are based on a synthesis of hundreds of studies and real life examples. They recognize that not everyone wants to or can work from home, that not all driving is eliminated, that home offices use energy too, and that occasional telework offers only minimal office space savings.”
Editor Notes: Regional impacts by city, county, or state are available on request. See: www.Undress4Success.com
Contact:
Kate Lister
TeleworkResearchNetwork.com
[email protected]
Telephone: 760-703-0377 or 760-473-2574 (Pacific)
Relevant White Papers:
Workshifting Benefits: The Bottom Line (download 2.3 MB)
– This 23 page paper examines the bottom line benefits of telework for individuals, communities, companies of various sizes, and the U.S. as a whole.
Future of work could be beneficial to rural areas
January 23, 2011 By THOMAS DIMOPOULOS, Poststar.com
The demise of the workplace cubicle and the bricks-and-mortar office building that houses it has been part of a global discussion since the dawning of the Internet Age.
While some companies are exploring the possibility of their employees “teleworking” from home, for a majority of workers, the road less traveled may still be a generation away.
Click here to read the entire article.
Broadband and Economic Development in Upstate New York
In September of 2009 TelCoa President Chuck Wilsker was on a panel at a conference held at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. It was a kickoff for the Adirondack Initiative to bring broadband and economic development to Upstate New York.
Click below to see and hear his presentation.
Chuck Wilsker, September 2009, The Adirondack Initiative
Broadband and Telecommuting: Helping the U.S. Environment and the Economy
December 2010
Joseph P. Fuhr,
Economics Widener University Chester, PA, USA, and The American Consumer Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.
Stephen Pociask,
The American Consumer Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.
ABSTRACT
This study examines how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. through the widespread delivery of broadband services and the expansion of telecommuting. Telecommuting can reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years by approximately 588.2 tons of which 247.7 million tons is due to less driving, 28.1 million tons is due to reduced office construction, and 312.4 million tons because of less energy usage by businesses. This paper explores these broadband services and their effects on the environment, specifically as a means to achieve better and cleaner energy use, while enhancing economic output, worker productivity and the standard of living of American consumers.
