Leading Strategy

Energy Costs, Conservation Saves and Creates Advantage!

Some might approach the problem more traditionally, not seeing the DIRECT connection between solid data center controls and the environmental benefits of a flexible work option. The organization that thinks this is about retaining people that you want to keep alone have missed the importance of telecommuting as a business imperative.
“It's more obvious each day that extreme efficiency is good for the environment and great for business. Customers want this same eco responsibility in their data centers.” 
— Jonathan Schwartz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sun Microsystems
From a Human Resources perspective a solid telecommuting program affords companies of all sizes the ability to really work from anywhere, and in fact, grow their presence in an ecologically sound strategy by setting an intent to do so. Better than that, imagine hiring the most creative, resilient, people without relocation requirements disrupting family life, or location to represent a company. This is way more than an employee loyalty possibility, this is a unique market potential that saves money!
At Sun, nearly 19,000 employees around the world work from home or in a flexible office, representing more than 56% of Sun's employee population.
The benefits are pretty clear, in a recent press release:
WHY DOES A CEO CARE ABOUT COMMUTING? Any practical business professional that identifies a way to influence positively 25% of their bottom line should care! Data Center costs don't come easy, and the cost to keep things always on, always ready, always working does come at a premium, given datacenter power consumption doubled between 2000 and 2005.
Average Employee Saves 2.5 Workweeks Per Year in Commute Time, More than $1,700 in Gas and Wear and Tear on Vehicle, and 5,400 Kilowatt Hours/Year Working Flexibly This also equates to less wear and tear on public highways. This also translates into less traffic related accidents to occur as folks are jockeying during commute time, trying to make it to the office.
Open Work Energy Measurement Project, an in-depth study of more than 100 participants in its progressive, award-winning flexible work program. The project sought to determine how much energy is consumed while working in a Sun office, while working at home, and during commuting to and from a Sun office.
Facts worth noting.
* Employees saved more than $1,700 per year in gasoline and wear and tear on autos by working at home just 2.5 days a week.
* Office equipment energy consumption rate at a Sun office was two times that of home office equipment energy consumption, estimates 64 watts per hour at home compared to 130 watts per hour at a commercial office.
* Commuting represented a whopping 98% of each employee's carbon footprint for work, compared to less than 1.7% of total carbon emissions to power office equipment.
* Working from home 2.5 days per week gained time while saving employees in the study an average of 2.5 weeks normally wasted commute time (8 hours/day, 5 days/week).
HOW DOES AN ORGANIZATION GET INFORMED? OpenEco.org is a global on-line community offering free, assessment tools to help track, and compare energy performance, share proven practices that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and share the great ideas about celebrating sustainable innovation.
Dawn C Khan :   LinkedIn   |   Twitter  | 

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