Significant cost savings can be found in the work at home option and it can also save your employees from the axe. Working at home can also save from overloading and overstressing current employees with piles of work left over from laid off employees. In 2009, the Ken Blanchard company polled over 1,700 business leaders, and almost 30% of them indicated they would be cutting costs by implementing personnel cuts and layoffs. Of the top management challenges, 52% of executives where concerned about reducing costs, but only 14% were dealing with concerns of managing a virtual workforce. It stands to reason that if you put more employees in the virtual workforce, the 52% worried about getting costs down will take a significant decline.

Companies must continually find new ways to improve efficiency and cut costs to stay competitive, especially in the economy today. The work at home and/or part time telecommute option can significantly cut costs, as well as bring in employees who are loyal and happy to work every day.

Find Expenses and Reduce

Determine where your company can save costs by looking at each department of the business. After dividing the company by departments, then look at each process and purchases that consume the bulk of the budget. It is likely your businesses top expenses are somewhat similar to the below. Obviously your costs associated with your specific industry are not listed.

Top Business Expenses:

1. Salary, Wages, and Benefits
2. Office Space / Leasing
3. Telecommunications (phone and long distance)
4. Telecommunications - Internet connectivity
5. Utilities (electricity, water, waste management)
6. Technology equipment and office furniture
7. Office Supplies, kitchen supplies, janitorial supplies
8. Cellular Phones for employees

The Work at Home Option provides SIGNIFICANT Cost Savings

Telecommute Cost Savings

The telecommute option is the easiest for most companies to initiate. It entails allowing the employee to travel to work on a minimal amount of days and work at home as much as conceivable.

With the telecommute option, the following cost savings are enjoyed:

• Reduce office space if sharing work space
• Phone and long distance can be charged on unlimited calling plans of cell phones
• Internet connectivity is faster for those who are in the office for the day, the employee provides his/her own high speed internet from home
• No janitorial services needed for employees for the days they are away
• No electricity (computers, air conditioning, heat, microwaves, facilities, lighting) used for the days they are away
• No water (toilets, water fountains, coffee and tea services, sinks) used for the days they are away
• No furniture wear and tear, in some cases, shared furniture is an option
• Office supply arrangements and contracts can be made. Significantly reduce waste when holding the employee accountable for personal office supply usage.
• No need for coffee, tea, soda services while employee is at home

Work at Home Cost Savings

A full time work at home employee may be difficult for your company to manage at first, however, think of the sales force for most corporations that have been working at home for many years. They are self sufficient, require little management, and they come in only for meetings.

With the work at home option, the following cost savings are enjoyed:

• No office space needed for each individual (cuts or eliminates costs of partitions, furniture, and significantly reduces leasing bills with lower requirement of space)
• Phone and long distance can be charged on unlimited calling plans of cell phones
• Internet connectivity is faster for those who are in the office and servers (bandwidth needs are greatly reduced), the employee provides his/her own high speed internet from home
• No janitorial services needed for work at home employees
• No electricity (computers, air conditioning, heat, microwaves, facilities, lighting) used
• No water (toilets, water fountains, coffee and tea services, sinks) used
• No furniture needed for individual purposes, shared meeting rooms, or public rooms (such as local library for free) will suffice
• Office supply arrangements and contracts can be made. Significantly reduce waste when holding the employee accountable for personal office supply usage.
• No need for coffee, tea, soda services
• Lower salary may be negotiated with this benefit

Freelance or Contract Cost Savings (outsourcing to prior employees)

If the above two options of telecommuting or working at home still do not provide significant cost savings compared to your company's budget needs, freelance and contract work is an excellent way to provide your company with a significant reduction in the number one cost of doing business: salary, wages and benefits.

• No benefits needed for contractors (eliminate medical, dental, vision, 401k match cost per seat)
• Wages are paid based on work completed (increase productivity)
• No salary negotiations or issues
• No office space needed for each individual (cuts or eliminates costs per seat of partitions, furniture, and significantly reduces leasing bills with lower requirement of space)
• Phone and long distance provided by contractor (eliminates phone cost per seat)
• Server and remaining employee bandwidth needs are greatly reduced. Contractor provides own Internet Connectivity
• No janitorial services needed for contractor
• No electricity (computers, air conditioning, heat, microwaves, facilities, lighting) used
• No water (toilets, water fountains, coffee and tea services, sinks) used
• No furniture needed for contractors
• Office supplies are purchased by contractor (eliminate supply cost per seat)
• No need for coffee, tea, soda services (eliminate cost per seat)
• Human resource intervention needs eliminated
• Training costs eliminated (contractor is required to provide their own training)

More Cost Savings (with all three options)

• No need to advertise open positions in pricey newspaper or job search sites. Word gets around very quickly for any work at home job
• Strict deliverable schedules reduce wasted time on the company's dime
• Eliminate rarely used space for public areas, such as lunch rooms and kitchens