Telecommuting or telework allows employees and volunteers to work from home or in a remote location and still be in touch with their office. The most basic tools of telecommuting have been phone and email, but new information and communication technologies (ICT) are available that make telecommuting much more effective.

Telework has been greatly enhanced by solutions such as virtual private networks (VPN), videoconferencing, and Voice over IP (VoIP). Be sure and check out our new GreenTech Initiative Telecommuting page for additional resources on telecommuting outside of this post.

Employee travel to and from the office accounts for roughly one-fourth of carbon emissions from all office operations. Statistics compiled by the Telework Coalition show that more than 44 million Americans are commuting less by working at home at least one day per week, and it is the same in most countries with a growing number of "knowledge workers."

The environmental impact in this area is profound. US workers alone commute an average of 10,000 miles per year each and consume 67 billion gallons of gasoline. For every day that a person's vehicle remains at home, 20% of that work-week's gas consumption and environmentally harmful emissions are eliminated. Telecommuters saved 840 million gallons of gasoline last year and reduced carbon emissions by almost 14 million tons.

Telecommuting is of course not suitable for everyone. For instance, some meetings need to be face-to-face or somebody needs to be on hand for customers or clients. However, it is an option for more and more people working in the information economy who have broadband Internet and mostly work on computers, telephones, or smart phones.

If employees must have direct access to their office phones, there are affordable new Voice over IP solutions that are emerging like virtual PBX, that allows you to set your office phone to ring at home or anywhere. Google is planning to launch a free service called Google Voice that will provide similar functions at no cost. One green company that installs virtual PBX systems is BetterWorld Telecom. They also do free telecommunications audit for US nonprofits and libraries.

For more info on Voice over IP and other ICT options check out:

• Unified Communications Options for Nonprofits
• Ditch Your Telephone for VoIP
• Virtual PBX Comparison Chart
• Side-by-Side Comparison of the Top 7 Business IP Phone Systems
  

We'll be hosting a webinar on the topic tomorrow, Wednesday, May 6 at 10 a.m. Pacific, called Telegreen Your Organization: Work Remotely. It's such a popular topic that the registration has filled up already and people are being wait-listed, but if you sign up, you'll receive an email with all of the resources, slides, and a recording of the event after it wraps even if there's not room to participate live.

There are two frequent concerns raised by organizations considering telework: how to supervise telecommuters and data security. Are workers more inclined to slack-off when they're working at home? That definitely is a concern in this field, but is addressed in a Telework Coalition whitepaper called, Unleashing The Hidden Productivity of Your Small Business, Unified Communications: A Key Component of Your Telework Program. They recommend that the key to a successful telework program is proper training for teleworkers and their managers. One basic supervisory tool is instant messaging, which is good way to determine if someone is online, on the phone, or in a meeting. For more information on supervising teleworkers check out the nonprofit, Minnesota Work Life Champion's Guidelines for Supervising Telecommuters (PDF).
 
Regarding data and other security concerns, even some government agencies including the US Defense Department, Internal Revenue Service, and Homeland Security utilize teleworkers with technologies like virtual private networks, server based computing, and remote access software. Most small businesses and nonprofits don't need Department of Defense-level security, but it is not difficult to develop a virtual private network if you already have a computer network. Check out TechSoup's Introduction to Virtual Private Networking for more details on securing your VPN.

If you'd like to get the networking software to set up a VPN, TechSoup Stock carries Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for a $40 administrative fee for eligible nonprofits and libraries and also Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration EE for a $60 admin fee for nonprofits and libraries. If you're not sure about VPN, get answers to your network questions in our Networks discussion forum and find the latest tips on security from Security Corner.

If you're troubleshooting how to handle tech updates from a distance, you can use remote access software that allows you to work on your office computer from home, check out our article entitle: Hands-On Tech Support from Afar and get remote access software, PC Anywhere, for a nonprofit or library admin fee of $160 for 10 single-user licenses.

We hope that you'll join our TeleGreen Your Work campaign and try out some of the tools and techniques mentioned here.

Photo: eddiemcfish

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