US businesses could save over $500B each year if workers partially telecommuted
Companies could stand to save approximately $11,000 per employee
Employers could collectively save over $500 billion each year if they implement a hybrid work model where employees alternate between their home and the office after the coronavirus pandemic ends.
According to Global Workplace Analytics, companies could stand to save approximately $11,000 per employee. These figures were estimated based on if the 48 million full-time employees in the U.S. with remote-work-compatibility were to work from home on an average of 2.5 days a week.
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While those savings don't account for any extra costs an employer might incur to support remote work, they are the result of "increased productivity, greater agility, and reduced real estate, absenteeism, and turnover costs," according to GWA.
Employees will also see a hefty amount of savings by committing to a hybrid work model. In doing so, employees could collectively save nearly $150 billion a year, equating to about $3,000 per person.
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However, those savings also don't account for any extra cost that an employee would incur as a result of working from home.
GWA also reported that employees would gain back a good amount of time they otherwise would have spent sitting in traffic during their commute to work. Collectively, employees would gain the equivalent of more than 670 million days, roughly 14 days per person.
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If this occurs, "the environment would be spared the greenhouse gas equivalent of taking the entire New York workforce off the road for a year," the report read.
GWA also estimated that it would result in 80,000 fewer traffic accident injuries or deaths.
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In April, the firm estimated that between 25% to 30% of the workforce would work from home multiple days a week even after the pandemic subsided. Nearly a year later, though, the firm revealed their estimate was low.
Kate Lister, president of GWA, said that as the pandemic progresses and continues to upend daily life, a majority of companies have become more open to the idea.
“Experience changes hearts,” Lister said, “but, facts change minds and a successful change initiative requires both.”