TELECOMMUTER APPRECIATION WEEK
Telecommuter Appreciation Week promotes the benefit of working from home but staying connected to the office. The American Telecommuting Association celebrates the week of Alexander Graham Bell’s birthday as a way to call attention to telecommuting.
The Association says telecommuting provides an opportunity to create a more harmonious balance between home and work commitments. Three-fourths of employees polled said the ability to work from home was their most desired family-friendly job perk.
With the increase in gas prices and the greater attention to balancing related stress, telecommuting, can for some, be a viable option that allows for an increase in productivity and more sense of control over when tasks get accomplished.
The American Telecommuting Association says there are many advantages and benefits to telecommuting.
The individual and family benefit from saved time, lower commuting expenses, reduced stress, more scheduling flexibility, greater satisfaction regarding work, and the pleasure of spending more time together.
The employer benefits from higher productivity, loyalty, and job satisfaction, a stronger focus on job performance, better recruiting and longer retention of the most productive employees. There is also a reduction in overhead and facility expenses.
Society as a whole benefits from reduced traffic congestion minimized air pollution, lower requirements for (and strain on) transportation infrastructure, and decreased demand for scarce and non-renewable resources like fossil fuels.
HOW TO OBSERVE #TelecommuterAppreciationWeek
Join The American Telecommuting Association.
Visit with your work team to see if this may be a good idea for you. (At least you have opened the door to look for other alternatives to maintaining work and life balance.) Use #TelecommunitingAppreciationWeek to share on social media.
TELECOMMUTER APPRECIATION WEEK HISTORY
The first Telecommuter Appreciation Week was in 1993 by the American Telecommuting Association in Washington DC. Since then, the concept of telecommuting has grown to be a worldwide practice. The United States leads the world in the number of people telecommuting with Canada coming in second.