Appreciate Your Telecommuters
Appreciate Your Telecommuters
As it has every year since 1993, the American Telecommuting Association is declaring “Telecommuter Appreciation Week”. In 2010, “Telecommuter Appreciation Week” falls on the period from February 28 through March 6 (in homage to Alexander Graham Bell, whose birthday is March 3rd).
This is the week in which the ATA supports various promotional activities designed to call attention to the “win win win” benefits that arise when people telecommute, and you should, too:
The telecommuting 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 of telecommuters benefits from their greater productivity, loyalty and job satisfaction, and their stronger focus on job performance, as well as better recruiting, longer retention of the most productive employees, and reduced 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.
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Why not follow the ATA’s lead and celebrate “Telecommuter Appreciation Week” with educational and other programs aimed at expanding awareness of and appreciation for the benefits of telecommuting?
Suggested Internal Educational Programs: :
What parts of our work need not be done in the office?
What could our organization do differently if some of us telecommute?
What must a supervisor do differently when supervising a telecommuter?
What benefits can we expect if some of us telecommute?
What qualities make a person a good telecommuter?
What would be the obligations of our telecommuters? of our organization (to telecommuters)?
What would be the expenses involved in telecommuting? for the organization? for the telecommuter?
What would be the savings involved in telecommuting? for the organization? for the telecommuter?
How could we begin to introduce telecommuting into our organization?
Your organization may want to sponsor one or more public activities – either local or national. We suggest organizations look for opportunities to do some or all of the following during the Week:
Arrange a conference on telecommuting for management of interested companies
Arrange a luncheon or a concert to thank existing telecommuters for their hard work
Take an ad in a local newspaper to promote the advantages of telecommuting
Offer a special discount on your product or service
Organize a contest to reward the “best story of telecommuting success”
Organize a contest to reward the “most successful telecommuter” in your town, or nationally
Conduct a survey to tabulate some aspect of telecommuting behavior
Organize a debate on telecommuting
Whatever you do, helping to celebrate Telecommuter Appreciation Week and helping to advance telecommuting is bound to pay your company big dividends!
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