Cisco touts home working's environmental and business benefits

It might have something of a vested interest given its position as one of the world's largest providers of remote working technologies, but according to new research from technology giant Cisco its employees' use of video conferencing and online collaboration tools is resulting in big costs savings and reductions in carbon emissions.

The company surveyed almost 2,000 of its staff from across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and emerging markets and found high levels of support for its telecommuting policy, which allows staff to work remotely and limit the amount of business trips they have to take.

The research found that the average employee now telecommutes two days a week, while over two thirds of respondents said that the policy resulted in higher levels of productivity and improved work-life balance.

Cisco said that the rollout of online communication technologies – such as instant messaging tools and video conferencing – had also delivered $277m (£168m) in productivity gains and provided significant reductions in employee travel. Staff reported fuel cost savings of $10.3m a year as a direct result of telecommuting, while figures from Cisco show that online meetings resulted in 47,320 metric tons of travel-related carbon emissions.

The company said that home and remote working could also provide less tangible benefits in the form of improved employee satisfaction and retention rates, citing the fact that more than 90 per cent of respondents to its survey said telecommuting is somewhat or very important to their overall job satisfaction.

Rami Mazid, vice president for global client services and operations at Cisco, welcomed the survey results, arguing that they provided evidence that "a properly executed program for telecommuting can be extremely effective at unlocking employee potential by increasing work-life balance, productivity and overall satisfaction".