Virginia Telework Day – August 3

Virginia has long been the model state for all things telework. Among other things, through TeleworkVA.org, the state offer grants of up to $35,000 ($3,500 per employee) to help businesses establish and expand their telecommuting programs. On June 10, 2009, Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine issued an Executive Order that called for the greening of Virginia. Part of that initiative encourages employers to explore the feasibility of telecommuting, and to bring attention to the cause, he declared August 3, 2009, Virginia Telework Day.

“The outpouring of enthusiasm for our Telework Day has been amazing. Company leaders and telecommuting advocates from all over the country have contacted me to offer support for the program,” said Karen Jackson, Virginia’s Deputy Secretary of Technology in a recent telephone interview.

Just for fun (yeah, I can be a bit of a dweeb sometimes), I ran the State of Virginia’s numbers through our Telework Savings Calculator to see the impact their one-day event could have. The results are pretty amazing.

If 20% of the workforce stayed home on August 3rd (not including the 172,000 Virginians who already work from home most of the time):

• Community, companies, and individuals would collectively save over $37 million
• The State would save 866,000 gallons of gas worth $3.1 million in oil imports
• The environment would be saved from 8,200 tons or greenhouse gases—the equivalent of taking 1,491 cars off the road for a year
• State productivity would increase by 610 man-years or $19.6 million worth of work
• Communities would save almost $300,000 in highway maintenance because 17.6 million fewer miles would be driven.
• Businesses would save 5.3 million kWh of electricity worth $563 thousand
• The net savings in electricity could power 344 homes for a year
• Employees would individually save $20 or more in transportation and work-related costs—collectively, they’d save over $11.7 million
• Employees would have an extra 55 minutes of free time that day—time they’d have otherwise spent commuting.
• 15 people would be saved from traffic-related injury or death
• $1.8 million would be saved in accident-related costs.

All that in just one day and in just one state! Imagine what a National Telework Day could do, or better yet, if we all tried to make the road less traveled the way to work!

Way to go Virginia!

For more information about Virginia Telework Day, visit the TeleworkExchange web site.