A new study from Microsoft focused on IT workers validates the findings from a recent local study conducted on behalf of the Georgia Department of Transportation on regional commuting habits of Atlantans.  In this latest effort from Microsoft, 4,500 IT workers from 15 cities were surveyed, with more than half indicating their companies have adopted a telework policy.  Atlanta nabbed the top spot in the rankings.  Here's a look at the top five:

1. Atlanta
2. Dallas
3. Phoenix
4. Seattle
5. Denver 

Atlanta has soldified its niche as a telecom and IT gateway to the Southeastern U.S.  So it's only natural that these types of industries and job functions should be embracing telework.  But the growth of telework among all types of industry segments and job types cannot be understated.  600,000 Atlantans telework at least occasionally … enough people to fill the Georgia Dome eight times.  The region has experienced growth in telework because there is more infrastructure to support it and because more employers are embracing telework as a business strategy.   

Atlanta ranked highest for level of support from colleagues and highest use of secure internal social networking tools to collaborate with customers.  This makes for great news to celebrate during Georgia Telework Week, coming up on the calendar for September 12-16.

New data from the Georgia Department of Transportation shows commuting habits in metro Atlanta have changed since 2007.  Fewer commuters are choosing to drive alone, and telework has become a “go-to” option for a growing number of Atlantans, surpassing carpooling and vanpooling for the first time as the primary alternative to solo driving.

 
Recently, we had the opportunity to catch up with Sharon Terry, who teleworks five days a week from her home office in Henry County. Sharon, a nurse case manager in the national accounts department of Anthem/Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia (BCBSGa), a Buckhead Area TMA partner, has been participating in her company’s telework program since October 2009. When she does need to make the 45-mile trek into the company’s Atlanta office once or twice a month, she typically carpools with another co-worker or takes MARTA. BCBSGa provides monthly MARTA passes for its employees free of charge.

Q&A

CAC: Recent data from the 2010 Metro Atlanta Regional Commuter Survey shows that the percentage of frequent teleworkers has increased by 75 percent in just three years. Why did you decide to join that group and begin teleworking?
ST: I decided to start teleworking when my department offered the opportunity. I live 45 miles from the office and a good day’s commute would take an average of one hour. However, a typical city commute can quickly turn into a 1.5- to 2-hour commute. Having a young child at home, I felt the time spent on commuting could be spent with family and a balanced life, which my company supports.
 
CAC: In addition to doing your part to improve the air we breathe, what are some of the other benefits you have found by teleworking?
ST: I am so excited to telework. My stress level has significantly decreased since teleworking. My productivity is up because I can work earlier/later when needed. I don’t have to consider travel time and if there are any travel alerts. I was pleased with my job, but teleworking makes it even more exciting.  I can actually spend my time with family and exercising, rather than sitting in a car for long periods of time.
 
CAC: How much money and time would you estimate you save per month by teleworking?
ST: I have saved approximately 11 to 13 hours of time a week and an average of $50 per week in gas. I have saved also with decreased oil changes and maintenance on my car.
 
CAC: Do you log your clean commute trips with The Clean Air Campaign? If so, have you ever won anything through the Commuter Rewards incentive program?
ST: Yes, I log my commute daily with The Clean Air Campaign. I have also won $25 gift cards in the past with the incentive program and the initial cash incentive.

Good feedback from employers who weathered the storm.  Better driving habits derived from a glass of water.  Best places to work.  It's all here in the latest edition of Merging Lanes!

Fortunate Ones: Best Companies to Work for in GA

Fortune recently released its annual roster of the 100 best employers to work for, featuring three venerable Georgia companies that have been mainstays on the magazine’s list over the past several years.  Alston + Bird (13), Aflac (57) and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (60) have more in common than just their Georgia roots: all three organizations offer commute options programs that help their employees minimize the hassles of getting to and from work.

Lane ends 2,000 feet.

Revisiting “the winter of our discontent”

While many North Georgia employers wrestled with the weeklong deep freeze in mid-January, more positive stories continue to emerge about those who were equipped to make the week somewhat productive.  As these employers note, the capacity to telework brought a decided advantage in the battle versus Mother Nature:

“Having our network accessible by employees from home was the most significant factor in capturing billable hours. Their ability to log in and be productive was huge for us, as we'll have a lot less time to try and make up between now and the end of January.”
-- Ed Cave, President, Veenendaal Cave

“We were able to conduct business for the most part, however, only a few people from the lab were able to work.  The leaders of Metametrix were pleased that we were able to continue to work. People that were not connected to the VPN actually called to get connected.”
-- Linda Thompson, Assistant Director of Human Resources, Metametrix

Vocalocity worked with Midtown Transportation Solutions and The Clean Air Campaign to formalize a telework policy, which, combined with their VoIP technology helped ensure that the company worked efficiently from home. 

NOTE: This Friday from 8am to 9:30am, The Clean Air Campaign will host a special seminar on business continuity at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, adjacent to Centennial Olympic Park.  Interested employers can RSVP for this free event by e-mailing bgraham@cleanaircampaign.org. 
 

Lane ends 1,000 feet.

If you build it, they will come. 

Downtown Atlanta’s future as the nucleus of rail and bus transit came into focus as the Georgia Department of Transportation began conversations with engineering and design firms on plans for a major facility to be located near the Five Points MARTA station.  The project is being billed as one of the largest transit-oriented developments in the country, which would bring new options to commuters and prime location advantages to all types of employers.  

Lane ends 500 feet.

Old school approach to efficient driving gets a new twist.

Ever heard of the old “glass of water” trick, where you place a full glass of water on the dashboard of your car with the goal of driving gently enough not to spill it?  No hard turns.  No aggressive starts or stops.  The benefits to driving this way of course are greater fuel economy and fewer emissions.  And now, there’s an app developed by engineers at Toyota for this old school approach.  Drivers can get performance data on their efforts to identify where there is room for improvement.  And if their carpool partner happens to be feeling a little parched, well …

Merge.

The last visible signs of Atlanta’s “Big Chill” are melting away today.  And as employers finish thawing out their operations from the deep freeze, the staggering totals of a lost week of productivity are staring the region in the face: the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University reports the business community lost an estimated $300 million last week.  That has many employers asking the question, “What could we have done differently to keep our business moving?”

At the same time, some employers stared down the icy mess and didn’t blink.  For them, the capacity to telework made the circumstances of last week “business as usual.”  Shaw Industries kept the wheels moving with a business continuity plan that included telework and had this to say:

"Having a teleworking program in place at Shaw is one of the ways we are able to help ensure the safety and well-being of our associates during extreme winter weather conditions like those we experienced this week. In addition to those associates who routinely telework as part of their normal schedule, we also asked all managerial and administrative associates in the affected areas to telework this week until they could safely get to their offices. While we temporarily closed or delayed shifts at several of our manufacturing facilities, having a telework program and the associated technology in place meant that some of our associates were also able to conduct business as usual this week from the warmth and safety of their own homes."

-- Paul Richard, Vice President Human Resources, Shaw Industries Group, Inc.

One thing we all learned last week is that the notion of preparedness is relative.  There’s only so much we can control.  The rest is about making the best of a given situation.  And from a productivity lens, that’s what telework allowed many of us to do when we couldn’t get out of our neighborhoods.

So, to the region’s employers that are searching for ways to shore up their business continuity plans, The Clean Air Campaign has lots of relevant ideas to help you get started.

With the cunning stealth of a swamp crocodile, gas prices throughout Georgia have crept back above the $3 mark and pounced on Georgia commuters. It's been a long, quiet ascent - which is perhaps why commuters have continued to tolerate the bite from this increase, unlike the wild ride in 2008 that brought about less driving. Are we headed for a repeat of those volatile times?

The distant speculation about paying $5 a gallon for gas in the future has received lots of attention after a former oil executive offered his dire prediction for 2012. Maybe this is what the Mayans were all worked up about with regard to 2012. But The Atlantic this week published a good reminder that tomorrow can wait. Today's "gas pains" are uncomfortable enough as it is, especially in Atlanta.

As more commuters sharpen their pencils and work to wrangle household budgeting for present times, The Atlantic suggests that policymakers jump in and do more to alleviate the burden of rising fuel prices by encouraging telework, ridesharing and tax relief for employers who get behind commute options programs.

Good news, folks. Georgia already has the infrastructure in place to do this and more. The Clean Air Campaign and its partners have been in front of this issue for more than a decade now, working with more than 1,600 employers and tens of thousands of commuters across the state. These groups knew where to turn for fiscal relief when the petrol pandemonium of 2008 jumped up and grabbed them, as evidenced by the 100% uptick in program participation by employers and the threefold increase in commuter incentives participants. So bring it on, volatile gas prices. We're still here ... and in 2011, we're ready to help Georgians in even more ways.

Labor Day is almost upon us. And just in time, because The Clean Air Campaign and its partners have been toiling away on innumerable projects for less traffic and cleaner air across Georgia. So, roll up your sleeves and work your way through this latest edition of Merging Lanes.

New Ozone Standard Up in the Air

We circled today's date on our calendars months ago, when the US Environmental Protection Agency announced changes were coming to the standards by which air quality is measured. Why the changes? Because more scientific evidence points to greater public health risks at even lower levels of exposure. In its present review, the EPA set a range for the new standard to fall somewhere between 60 and 70 parts per billion, which is the first time we can recall being given a range instead of an exact number. What will the EPA ultimately decide for the new standard? Looks like we'll have to wait just a little longer to find out.

Lane ends 2,000 feet.

Recapping Telework Week

Many thanks to the Governor's office, the 150 Georgia employers and the thousands of commuters who showed their support for the first-ever Georgia Telework Week last week. Also, thank you to our guest bloggers, including telework expert Kate Lister, for sharing insight into telework as a business strategy who's time has come, and to the San Diego Clean Fuels Coalition and Greater Lansing Area Clean Cities for cheering us on from afar. What was accomplished? An important conversation was started with many employers - and reinvigorated with many others - about redefining how work gets done. One employer noted "We have found this strategy to fundamentally support productivity and quality of life at our firm." A teleworking commuter offered this testimonial: "Telework means one less day having to deal with traffic and I find myself more productive working from home." Consider that some 300,000 employees in the Atlanta region telework at least once a week, eliminating 12 million miles of vehicle travel from the roads and keeping 6,000 tons of pollution out of the air we breathe. There's an awful lot of room to build on that success, both in Atlanta and in other employment centers around Georgia.

Lane ends 1,000 feet.

Worst Traffic Jam EVER?

This recent story puts Georgia's traffic congestion problems into perspective. A stretch of road between Beijing and Tibet has endured a 60-mile traffic jam that took a week and a half to clear ... only to get mired in gridlock again just a few days later. One expert tries to make sense of it all here. Metro Atlantans already lose 60 hours a year above and beyond their normal commute times to traffic snarls, according to the Texas Transportation Institute's 2009 Urban Mobility Report. Imagine losing 216 hours in the traffic oblivion lurking outside Beijing.

Lane ends 500 feet.

Walk On

What's your Walk Score? That's the question a website asks in the context of promoting more walkable neighborhoods and more access to alternative transportation. Just plug in your address to find out your walk score and see what's near you, what you're likely to spend on housing and transportation costs and your commute distance. I was disappointed to see that my measly walk score of 37 (out of a possible 100 points) indicates I am "car-dependent." Boo, hiss. What I wouldn't give for better "last-mile" connectivity between my home and the Indian Creek MARTA station a few miles away! My boss fared much better on his walk score with an impressive tally of 94, which qualified as "walker's paradise."

Merge.

More and more, employers are looking for ways to help their associates enjoy greater quality of life and a more productive work/life balance by offering flexible work hours or telework programs. And in turn, new associates and recent college graduates are looking for companies that provide such options.

We introduced a telework program at Shaw in 2007 for this very reason – to offer our own associates more flexibility and a better work/life balance. What began as a pilot program within our IT department has now become a growing – and valuable – part of the way we work: we now have between 150 and 170 associates participating in the telework program, including associates in our information services, legal, enterprise excellence, talent acquisition and marketing groups.

Reducing gas consumption, saving energy and decreasing carbon emissions associated with car commuting are some of the many environmental benefits our telework program has helped generate. But the program also offers myriad additional benefits, both for the qualified associates who participate, and for our organization as a whole.

In fact, beyond the environmental benefits of teleworking, one of the biggest advantages is the flexibility it allows. While some people prefer more time in the office, some people work better the other way round – coming to the office for meetings and collaboration, then working from home to organize, prioritize and focus on projects without distraction. Having a telework program in place means many of our associates have that option – and for people who are already productive and contributing at a high level, this option very often makes them even better. In other words, teleworking is something we’ve found works all the way around for us.

Paul Richard is Vice President of Human Resources for Shaw Industries Group, Inc. in Dalton, Georgia. Shaw is the largest manufacturing employer in the state of Georgia. For more information about Shaw Industries' commitment to Sustainability through Innovation -- The Shaw Green Edge, visit www.shawgreenedge.com.

On behalf of AT&T’s 1,750 telecommuters in Georgia, we are proud to support the state’s first-ever Telework Week. Telecommuting (working from a home office) is part of AT&T’s Evolving Workplace strategy that recognizes the nature of work is changing, and the way in which our company supports that work - through real estate, management practices and technology - is changing as well.

AT&T has implemented a comprehensive telecommuting policy with arrangements for our employees for whom it makes the most sense. Our program includes both formal and informal communication and collaboration tools, including a social networking community where AT&T's telecommuting workforce can meet online and share their knowledge and best practice tips for working effectively in a home office environment. We’ve experienced firsthand that flexible work programs such as telecommuting can have a positive impact on personal productivity, work space efficiency and quality of life.

The AT&T telecommuting program is also delivering reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The telecommuter population avoided 142 million commute miles per year nationwide. At the end of 2009, AT&T counted more than 10,000 approved telecommuters across the country. In addition, the company has provided mobile and remote access technologies to more than 130,000 employees that allow them to work from a variety of locations.

In 2010, we hope to build on the current program and expand it to even more employees.

Sylvia Russell is president of AT&T Georgia, a Clean Air Campaign partner.

Georgia Telework Week is August 23-27, 2010. The content and views expressed in this blog post are those of Kate Lister, a telework consulting professional, and not necessarily those of The Clean Air Campaign.

If the 1.3 million Georgia employees who want to work from home and hold telework compatible jobs teleworked just half the time, the overall economic impact would total almost $20 billion a year! Participating businesses could add over $10,000 per employee to their bottom lines.

Less than 3% of Georgia employees (about 115,000) consider home their primary place of work, but studies show that 40% hold jobs that are compatible with telework and 79% would do so if allowed. If they did, just half the time (roughly the national average for those who do):

Georgia Businesses could:

- Increase productivity by over $7 billion a year—the equivalent of 170,000 man years of work
- Save $3.8 billion in real estate, electricity, and related costs
- Save $1.4 billion in absenteeism
- Save $1 billion in employee turnover
- Reduce ADA compliance costs
- Potentially reduce healthcare premiums

Georgia Employees could:

- Enjoy a better work-life balance
- Recoup 2-3 weeks of free time per year—time they’d have otherwise spent commuting
- Save $2,000-$7,000/year—the combination of transportation and other work-related costs
- Save $608 million at the pumps
- Potentially qualify for a home office tax credit, reduce childcare or eldercare costs, and lower vehicle insurance premiums

The State could:

- Save 8.8 million barrels of oil—equivalent to over 30% of the Country's annual imports from Libya
- Reduce greenhouse gases by 1.6 million tons/year—equivalent to taking almost 300,000 cars off the road
- Reduce road travel by 3.5 billion miles/year saving $60 million in unreimbursed road maintenance
- Save almost 3,000 people from traffic-related injury or death and $357 million in related costs.
Georgia's commitment to telework is something its citizens should be very proud of. Only a handful of states offer economic incentives and free assistance for companies that want to start their own telework programs.

About Kate Lister

Kate is a principal at the TeleworkResearchNetwork, a research and consulting firm that has synthesized over 250 case studies, scholarly reviews, research papers, books, and other documents on telecommuting and related topics. Their research has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and dozens of other publications. Their popular press book, Undress For Success—The Naked Truth About Working At Home (Wiley 2009) is aimed at empowering employees to negotiate, find, or create their own home-based work. It has won the praise of top telework and worklife advocates including WorldatWork, the Canadian Telework Association, the Telework Coalition, the Sloan Foundation, and the father of telecommuting, Jack Nilles.

Using the latest Census data, and assumptions from dozens of government and private sector sources, they've developed a model to quantify the economic, environmental, and societal potential on telecommuting for every, city, county, Congressional District, and state in the nation. It's been used by company and community leaders throughout the U.S. and Canada and is available free on the web along with a model that allows companies to quantify their own potential telecommuting savings. Customized models, based on over two dozen parameters, are available to evaluate unique community and company situations.

More about telecommuting, the pros and cons, who's doing it, and other resources for companies, individuals and researchers are available at TeleworkResearchNetwork.com.

Citing widespread broadband connectivity and a robust infrastructure, Forbes magazine again ranked the metro Atlanta region among the "most wired" in the U.S. Atlanta held firm at #2 for the second straight year, a strong showing in a region that is ripe for telework programs. But what is surprising is which city ranked ahead of Atlanta on this list. Hint: it's not in the Silicon Valley.

With a punishing commute that landed Atlanta on another Forbes list recently for all the wrong reasons, it's great that the region is getting recognition for the availability of broadband Internet that helps employees and employers alike boost productivity, save on overhead and commuting costs and get out of traffic. The availability of the Georgia Telework Tax Credit and consulting services provided at no cost by The Clean Air Campaign is icing on the cake for employers. We just need more employers to get on board.