Working From Home: The Ultimate In Going Green

Business Takes Its Toll On The Environment

There are many things STL Beds has done to minimize our impact on the environment other than the obvious monetary portion of our business which is to promote sustainable, green, and natural organic products for the bedroom. We joined the Sustainable Furnishings Council, partnered up with Ameren UE, and became a Pure Power Partner as well. The owner of STL Beds even grows many of his own vegetables. All with the idea of making our carbon footprint just a little bit smaller. However, all this saving and sustainability is a drop in the bucket compared to how we could reduce our overall footprint by working from home;

Earth-Friendly Businesses Who Are Not Only Looking To Green Up

But work with their employees realizes the staggeringly high cost of commuting and the fact that it is a major consumer of energy. Commuting costs average over $10,000 per year when fuel, insurance, vehicle wear, and tear are all taken into consideration. Add to this what you and/or your employer could do with the 200-300 hours spent on the commute to and from work each year. Wouldn’t it be nice if the only thing you had to worry about was tripping over the kid’s toys while working from our bedroom or home office?

Between 2 And 3 Million People Work At Home Full Time

Approximately 25% of the workforce could from home one or more days a week. Job descriptions for people that work like this are called;

• Telecommuting
• E-commuting
• E-work
• Telework
• Working from home (WFH)
• Working at home (WAH)

Each of these is a work arrangement in which employees have the benefit of working from a flexible location, flexible business hours, and can often vary from company to company. This type of work is now possible since the introduction of computers, the Internet, and ever-expanding technologies. This flexibility has spurred major growth in the telecommuting job market and is actually forcing businesses that don’t participate in these green work plans to be more competitive and flexible which boosts employee morale and overall work productivity.

While there are problems for employers who realize not everyone has the needed work ethics or discipline to work at home unsupervised, it is a very viable and green option for them giving work at home employees needed money saving through saved commuting expenses, time with family, and mindset that often gets beat down in an office environment. If more people were able to work at home traffic congestion could be minimized and commute times would be lowered for those who must still do their jobs from an office, travel to appointment however, in the end, it greatly lowers our consumption of oil and reduces our carbon footprint.