Happy Workers Happy Company

Jerry Burbridge is an expert in LEED and saving companies money through sustainability. He spoke to my class about an interesting topic: Space Planning and the benefits of tele-working. Jerry currently is contracted by the Department of Homeland Security for Border Patrol. He is a project manager that manages new construction and leases for the government. He has decades of experience on space planning for a variety of industries.

Jerry talked extensively on how much space companies need per worker. In the government, the amount of space is determined by job description.  Everyone in same the category receives the exact same amount of office space. The government is looking at ways to cut back on amount of space used in order to save money as wellas create a smaller carbon footprint. One of the ways they are doing this is through tele-working.

Teleworking or telecommunting is defined as "the use of home computers, telephones, etc. to enable a person to work from home while maintaining contact with colleagues, customers, or a central office." By having a workforce telecommunte companies cut down on the amount of office space needed as well as the amount or cars communting.  Several people in my class commented on how productivity and happiness increases in those individuals who telecommunte for part of their job.

I work for Coca-Cola. We have policy that certain departments are able to take advantage of this. For example, a department has everyone sign up to work from home 1-2 days a week on different days of the week. All employees that I know that take advantage of the program love it. The only downside I have seen for my company is that when everyone is in the office for weekly meetings, we experience a shortage of conference rooms at times. However, this problem is small and the benefits of teleworking far out-weigh the problem of conference room space.

I never looked at the benefits of teleworking in regards to sustainability before Jerry spoke. I sincerely believe teleworking is a great concept and all companies should try to adopt it on some level.


REFERENCES

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/teleworking