The New Telecommuters: Where are you going?

As the buzz around skyrocketing fuel prices and travel costs continues, it’s no secret that business people continue to turn to telecommuting as a viable alternative to offset costs and carbon emissions.

As CIO.com profiled this week, companies like Chorus are allowing their entire workforce to work remotely, sparing employees from the hassle of costly commuting. And after saving over $400,000 a year, who could blame them? As Chorus demonstrates, more companies are realizing that remote training and knowledge transfer can be achieved using collaboration tools. Not a bad option when gas prices are almost hitting $5 a gallon in some U.S. cities.

But businesses aren’t the only ones hopping on board the trend, as reported on by the Associated Press this week. We are seeing that lately, a new generation of telecommuters has begun to take shape, as travel costs have fueled a substantial boom in the number of students who are now telecommuting to class. According to the AP, a growing number of students are feeling the pinch of high fuel costs on their budgets, and are enrolling in online classes in record numbers.

Work and school aside, where else can we leverage telecommuting to reduce the need for costly travel? As noted by CNNMoney.com this week, waiting until 2010 when the market recovers is a long time away – so where else can the technology take us when we need to offset our carbon emissions and find ways to cut travel costs? Well, it may not be all that useful to telecommute to your summer vacation in Bali, but it will be interesting to see what other destinations – other than school and work – that we can put on the map.

Colin Smith, Dir., Public Relations, WebEx

Comments

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As the buzz around skyrocketing fuel prices and travel costs continues, it’s no secret that business people continue to turn to telecommuting as a viable alternative to offset costs and carbon emissions.

[Ruud Padt]

In my opinion telecommuting is possible for professionals but it has to involve every employer AND Yes it can involve every Desk-worker !!!!
.
This means Team-Building, Training on the job, Trust and unofficial gossip to match ideas....all during Telecommuting
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We can give this trough Full-time HQ Video and Audio for every employer and manager.
Constantly seeing each other will really build a team.
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Check it out at hr.telebeing in the Netherlands (nl)
or join the linkedin group: “teleworking”
Ruud Padt

[Office Space]

I have written multiple times on my blog about telecommuting (among other things), and definitely believe in the benefits of remote workforces. However, I also believe that not everyone can work remotely. Some are ready to admit that they are not cut out to be remote workers; others don't admit it and these people are the real drains on productivity and give telecommuting a bad name.