A recent YouGov.com survey of 2,200 British workers, commissioned by WebEx, found that 63 percent would happily change their working habits to limit their greenhouse gas emissions caused by commuting. Actually, they’re desperate for a change: In a separate WebEx survey of 1,500 Brits, nearly one in four claimed they would sacrifice their annual pay raise for the chance to work from home one day a week.

“The national, daily commute to work is a major cause of environmental pollution and a major headache for the [British] workforce,” says Bert van der Zwan, a vice president at WebEx. “By embracing a flexible working culture enabled by web collaboration technology, businesses can not only make fantastic cost savings but also increase staff productivity and morale.”

> Learn about how WebEx makes telecommuting easy.
> To begin sparing the air today, try WebEx for free, and we’ll plant a tree in your name.

Granted, I work for WebEx and so I can quite literally telework anywhere anytime.  I have a totally remote team, one of whom works at home 99% of the time.  But I work out of headquarters.  I 'try' to telework from home one day a week.  I have a criteria - is there anyone I am meeting with that day where the F2F interchange is important.  If so, I go to the office.  But at least once a week, I organize myself to work from my home.  For that day, I eliminate 60 miles and two hours of my commute.  I save gas, wear and tear on both my car and on me.  My day shifts to an earlier day, starting earlier, and ending earlier, actually with more work hours than when I drive in.  I find myself wondering about our future.  Right now it is trendy to talk green.  Will the trend convert to action - steady and consistent?  If so, I see big changes for all of us over the next 10 years.  If we are really serious about reducing carbon emissions, then my one/week may move to 2 days/week.  My 5 newstyle lightbulbs will be in every lamp in the home.  And who knows what else. 

I've worked for many managers, VPs, and CEO's who would not allow their folks to work at home.  I for one believe that that way of thinking is seriously on the way out.  I once had a colleague who believed that every Wednesday we should have no phone calls and no meetings, the idea being that folks should focus on their real work, on reading, on projects.  In its way, that is a bold idea, even more so in our totally connected world.  But we are being faced with new realities so re-thinking one's personal workflow and work habits is fair game.

diane davidson

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