Telework is greener, reduces stress and boosts productivity so why aren’t more people working anywhere but the office?

July 3, 2009

From Backbone Magazine - Three years ago David Hawkins spent more than two hours a day crammed into a crawling Vancouver bus. He jostled and was jostled, breathed other people’s air and stared out the windows at rush-hour pedestrians who sometimes made faster progress than the commuters trapped in the bus.

Hawkins was fed up and ready to ditch this rush-hour purgatory. Today, by telecommuting and shifting his hours, Hawkins now spends less time at his office and accomplishes a great deal more.

He now wakes up before his wife and children and spends a few quiet hours responding to e-mails and catching up with colleagues in the Central and Eastern time zones. He then enjoys breakfast with his family before catching the bus at nine o’clock. With few other commuters to contend with, he takes a seat and spends the next 40 minutes working on his laptop. The chief technology officer for Facet | Teletrips, a West Coast-based company that provides products and consulting services to help deploy and promote integrated telework solutions, Hawkins especially values this offline time during which he can work with virtually no interruptions. After spending the day at his Vancouver office, Hawkins leaves between 3:30 and 4:30 in the afternoon, well before most other commuters, and enjoys a productive ride home. Full Story