Should Your Company Consider Telecommuting To Trim Costs?
Ryan Seymour is a PC hardware specialist and the Tech Experts Service Manager. |
Every small business is looking for ways to cut costs. With advances in technology, telecommuting is another option to save. According to a report from the human resources association, WorldatWork, 17.2 million U.S. employees telecommuted at least one day a month in 2009.
That’s slightly more than 10 percent of the U.S. workforce and an increase of almost 40 percent from 2006.” Workers are speaking out. What they’re saying is that they want to telecommute. Should your office listen?
Here are some issues to consider before implementing a telecommuting policy in your workplace.
Productivity: Studies have found that telecommuting increases overall employee productivity by 10 to 45%.
Here’s what a few companies are doing:American Express telecommuters handled 26% more calls and produced 43% more business than their office-based counterparts.
Cisco saved over $277 million in productivity in one year by letting employees work from home using the company’s own virtual office technology. In addition, employees garnered fuel cost savings exceeding $10 million per year.
Real Estate/Office Cost: Roughly 25% of IBM employees work from home worldwide. IBM estimates that they save nearly $700 million in real estate costs as a direct result.
Relocation Costs: Don’t pay the moving guys. Telecommuting lets you move the employee’s work, instead of the employee’s life.
Work/Life Balance and Morale: According to the Telework America National Telework Survey, “72% of employers say telework has a high impact on employee morale and retention.”
Today’s employees work to live, not live to work. Allowing them to balance their work and home lives heightens morale and ends a clear message that you appreciate them.
The bottom line? Telecommuting may or may not be for your company. You don’t have to allow your employees to telecommute, but you may be missing out on many benefits if you don’t.
Everyone owns a laptop or smart phone, and Internet access is everywhere. By allowing employees to telecommute, employers can cut expenses, increase productivity and raise company morale.
Why not try telecommuting 1 or 2 days a week?
Laptop Or Desktop? It Depends On Your Application
Robert Saylors is a senior network technician and hardware specialist with Tech Experts. |
I have noticed an interesting trend lately in our service department at Tech Experts.
We have been seeing an increase in the number of laptop or notebook style computers in for service. While this may be due to the holiday season and students returning home from school to visit family, I also feel that the falling prices have lead to laptops being much more affordable then in the past.
This got me to thinking about the comparison of laptops versus desktop and the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Many times I have been asked “Which one is better laptop or desktop?” The short answer is “It depends.” It basically boils down to what you plan to do with the unit.
Laptops are obviously an advantage for students who must travel not only back home and to school, but they also travel between classes and dorm rooms and restaurants. This portability is also an advantage for business travelers and mobile offices. It is hard to carry a desktop with you in your travels.
And with the popularity of wireless “hotspots” in almost every public place, laptops will continue to grow in popularity.
Some of the disadvantages I have seen with laptops are the ease at which the power jack on the unit can become loose and the power adapter cannot charge the battery, because the connector is broken and separates from the board - meaning no power is getting to the computer.
This is typically caused by applying some type of force to the plug when it is plugged into the jack. Tipping the laptop so the weight of the unit rests on the plug will cause this problem and care should always be taken not to do this.
While I am on the subject of power adapters, this is another disadvantage of a laptop. We had a call just the other day from a couple travelling from their home in Louisiana that forgot to pack their power adapter.
No power adapter means you cannot charge the battery which means a useless laptop after a few hours of operation. In this case the couple purchased a couple of extra adapters from EBay and discovered it still did not work. After coming into our service department it was quickly discovered that their power jack in the laptop had broken.
Another disadvantage to laptops is the ease at which careless operators can spill liquid onto the keyboard. If you do this on your desktop computer it is really not that big of a deal to purchase a new keyboard at the local computer shop, plug it in and off you go.
Laptop keyboard replacement is much more difficult and can be a costly repair. You can’t just rinse the liquid out. Often the liquid that is still in the keyboard will dry and cause the keys to stick. Care should always be taken to keep all liquids away from laptops.
Desktop computers, although they are not so portable seem to have longer lifespan then laptops. This is mainly due to the fact that they do not get moved very often. If you are going to move your desktop take extra care to treat it very gently as they do not take jolting and jarring well.
I have had people mention to me they don’t like to type on a laptop. I prefer the feel of a laptop keyboard to a traditional keyboard, and all laptops can accept USB keyboards if you prefer.
So it “depends” on your situation and requirements for your computing needs. Call us at Tech Experts and we can provide you with the expert guidance needed to make the right decision.
We prefer IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad notebook computers, but also offer HP and Toshiba machines, depending on your company’s needs. This picture of an IBM Thinkpad was taken aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-126.
Do You Want To Be Able To Work From Home? Here’s What You Need To Know!
There’s a hot business trend that’s become even MORE popular with the rising gas prices: telecommuting.
Whether you call it “working from home,” or your “virtual office,” the idea is the same: Your network is configured to give you and your staff the ability to work from some location other than the office.
While most business owners and managers pulling 60+ hour work -weeks love the idea, they often fear that employees working from home won’t be as productive, or won’t take their job seriously, but this fear is on the decline.
The International Telework Association & Council (ITAC, www.telecommute.org) reports that the number of workers who telecommute at least once a week has topped 23 million and is continuing to grow.
While telecommuting will not work in every situation, there is no doubt that technology has made working from home extremely practical whether a few times a month or every week.
Offering Work From Home Options Makes
Your Company More Competitive
As a matter of fact, offering work-from-home options can give you a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining the best employees:
• Employees who are sick can continue to work without infecting the office or losing an entire work day.
• Employees forced to stay home to take care of sick family members can continue to work instead of taking off long periods.
• Inclement weather or heavily congested traffic won’t shut down your office.
• Key managers with a heavy workload will actually be more productive if given the ability to work from home on evenings and weekends.
• Allowing employees flexibility during peak workloads (e.g. CPAs during tax season) makes employees happier to put in the extra hours from a home office.
• Employees with temporary or permanent disabilities can continue to be fully functional in a home environment.
Telecommuting Improves Employee Productivity And Retention
ITAC reports that enabling key employees the ability to work from home actually increases their productivity, leads to fewer sick days, and a better work/life balance which in turn, reduces turnover. After all, an employee who is given the benefit of working from home will often pass up higher paying job offers that will require them to be in an office 40 hours a week.
For the business, telecommuting saves on rent and utilities and can help avoid the heavy expense of renting additional office space or moving to larger locations.
Most business owners will test a “work from home” program by only giving themselves and a few key managers the ability to work from home. Often, this is for after-hours access. Once the technology is set up and tested, a few additional key staff can be permitted to work from home on special occasions, while traveling, sick, or otherwise unable to come in.
FREE:
The Ultimate Small Business Owners Guide To Setting Up A ‘Work From Home’ Program Or Remote Network Access
If you are thinking about investing in the technology to allow your staff to work from home or a remote location—DON’T—at least not until you read this informative new report.
To secure your free copy, go to:
www.MyTechExperts.com/remotereport
or, call the office at (734) 457-5000.