Quality of Life
When you're at home, you have the ability to adapt your schedule to different personal needs. Instead of getting coffee in the break room at work, you can take the dog for a short walk. Or if you're planning on playing tennis at 3pm with a friend, form your day’s schedule around that event, without having to deal with odd looks as you grab your tennis racket and bolt out the office door. This can also improve family relations by having a parent around when the kids come home from school.
However, it’s essential to keep the line between your work and personal life separate. A Stockholm University study found that "telework may reduce stress from some sources; however, it may also undermine restorative functions of the home." So, even though you're at home, it's important to keep a working mentality while working and a relaxing mentality while not.
Increased Productivity
While it might seem intuitive that people in an office environment with the boss looming over their shoulder would be more productive, the opposite can actually be true. According to another study by the The Telework Exchange, with the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency, 87% of managers at the NSF reported that their employees' productivity increased or remained the same while teleworking.
This productivity can be attributed to a few factors: reduced commuting time, reduction of inter-office distractions and motivation to complete tasks in order to free up personal time
EMPLOYER BENEFITS
Lower Overhead
Sun Microsystems (STOCK QUOTE: JAVA), which has had an Open Work program for a decade, conducted a study and found that employees who work from home for 2.1 days per week saved the company 5400 Kilowatt hours per year. And while these energy savings make a difference in power bills (and the company's overall carbon footprint) the real savings come when you add in the cost of reducing real estate bills. In 2007, with 56% of employees working outside of the office, Sun saved nearly $68 million in real estate costs.
