In case you needed more reasons to let workers telecommute, look at this …

Most HR pros understand the benefits of letting workers telecommute. The C-suite, however, has traditionally been harder to convince. Well, if more convincing is what’s needed, show your execs this … 

The folks at the Ireland-based office supply shop Needa.ie recently did some heavy fact-finding into the benefits of telecommuting and came up with some interesting stats that they’ve encapsulated into the infographic below.

But before we get to the graphic, there were a few highlights from the research we felt compelled to draw extra attention to:

• Telecommuting is what employees want — 66% of people would work from home if given the choice.
• To one in three, it’s better than a pay raise — 36% would select telecommuting over a pay raise.
• It improves retention — 14% of Americans have changed jobs to shorten their commute, and 95% of employers said telecommuting has had a high impact on employee retention.
• It reduces unscheduled absences — telecommuters are more likely to work when sick, and telecommuting makes it easier to schedule things like doctor appointments without having to take a full day off. Plus, employees can still work even when inclement weather would prevent them from reaching the office.
• Telecommuters put in more hours — roughly 60% of the commuting time employees save is used to perform work.
• It eliminates the need for office space — Dow Chemical and Nortel saved 30% or real estate costs by letting workers telecommute.
• It grows revenue — Businesses that allowed workers to telecommute at least three times per month were more likely to achieve revenue growth of 10% or more annually.

Elephant in the room

What the research didn’t address, is the giant elephant in the room for American businesses: What effect the DOL’s new overtime exemption rules will have on telecommuting.

Aside from advancements in technology, what has made telecommuting so appealing is the rise of the salaried, exempt employee — for whom businesses don’t need to track actual work hours. The new FLSA rules may throw a big wrench into those works.

If employers aren’t willing to raise employees’ salaries above the $50,440 threshold employees must be paid to be considered exempt, they’ll have to adopt methods for accurately tracking workers’ hours — and that’s before we even know what the changes to the “white-collar” duties tests will be.

More findings

For more interesting findings from the research, check out this infographic:

Source: Office.Needa.ie