Today’s guest post is authored by Chris Connolly, Director of Client Services for Convergys Employee Care.  Chris is a long-time advocate of alternative work schedules (and an extremely bright guy).  If you have questions or comments, Chris can be reached directly at chris.connolly@convergys.com.  Take it away Chris!

Filling my tank near the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC this past weekend, I waited nervously as the $4.25/gallon offering approached a $100 total.  I never thought I would worry about the credit limit on my Exxon Card, and I swear that just last week I could count “one-Mississippi” while the digits on the meter clicked off $1 increments…I fear those days are gone.

Having a little time to contemplate this situation, I began wondering when gas stations might start offering a fourth payment option at the pump: Cash, Debit, Credit or Hedge (i.e, pre-purchase X gallons of premium for $3.25 a gallon and draw down from this purchase over the next year).  Thinking I might have stumbled onto a million dollar idea, I  went home and performed the obligatory Google search only to find out that others had beaten me to the concept:  

• Chrysler is offering a program called “Refuel America” which locks in the price of unleaded at $2.99 for three years if you purchase a “qualifying (read slow-moving-gas-guzzler) vehicle”.   
• Also check out the Gasoline Price Protection Program (G3P) concept at the WTLTrading blog.

But back to the issue you raised Mark.  I am hopeful that employees and employers can discover opportunity in the energy and economic challenges that we face today.   The impact of fuel prices on the average commuter may help produce the momentum to bust through the paradigm that we’ve been stuck in for over 40 years.  Rather than waiting for the oil companies to discover new supplies, build more refining capacity, or offer “incentives” to pre-purchase their highly profitable commodity, employees might start asking their employers for the option of an alternative work environment (aka work-at-home and/or telecommuting).  If you want to begin developing a business case for reducing your commuting expenses,  check out the calculators at the following sites:

• Arlington County VA’s “Car-Free Diet” calculator
• Commute Solution’s “True Cost of Driving” calculator

Both tools demonstrate how an average commuter can save several thousand dollars per year by working at home just one day per week.  Many states (Virginia being one) offer significant incentives to businesses for developing and deploying telework/alternative work site solutions.  The reduced demand on highways and other municipal infrastructure helps subsidize these government incentives.  The benefits to employees, taxpayers, employers and the environment could be significant if we begin to approach our daily commute less as a requirement and more as a choice.  Let’s explore the alternatives.  

Welcome to May of 2008.  The average price of gas is $3.75 per gallon.  Oil is $126 a barrel.  And consumer confidence?  According to Director Lynn Franco of the Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center, April’s Consumer Confidence Index was anything but groovy:

“This month’s decline in Consumer Confidence was the result of yet another sharp decline in the Present Situation Index. This continued weakening suggests that not only has the feeble level of growth in the first quarter spilled over into the second quarter, but that economic conditions may have slowed even further. And, not only are lackluster business and job conditions eroding confidence, but rising gasoline prices are undoubtedly heightening concerns… Looking ahead, consumers’ outlook for the economy, the job market and their income prospects remains quite pessimistic and little changed from last month. Or, in other words, the glass remains half empty.”

So now you’re saying to yourself, “Thanks Mark!  Great start to my Monday morning.  Real uplifting stuff.”  Sorry about that.  But here’s the good news – many employers have been heeding the cry for relief by deploying alternative work schedules (AWS).  

• Saving Energy: Marion County (Florida) just approved a 4-day work week measure, which by their estimates will save about $250,000 in electricity through the remainder of 2008.  
• Saving Oil: Calculations by energy site The Oil Drum estimate that taking one commute day off the books would save about 8.3 million barrels of oil.  
• Saving Employees: If you want to take this idea to the fullest, embrace the work of CultureRx and their Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE), which declined voluntary turnover rates by 90%.

All good stuff, but what do the academics have to say about AWS?  According to the Sloan Work and Family Research Network (Boston College):

• Fifty percent of employees who have high access to flexible work arrangements on the job report high levels of life satisfaction (Bond, Thompson, Galinsky, & Prottas, 2002, p. 39).
• According to the National Study of the Changing Workforce, “employees who have more access to flexible work arrangements report fewer mental health problems” (BTG&P, p. 39).
• 32% of wage and salaried workers with high availability of flexible work arrangements report no interference of job and family life (BTG&P, p. 38).
• 34% of wage and salaried employees who have high access to flexible work arrangement report “low levels of negative spillover from job to home” (BTG&P, p. 39).

So If you have AWS policies, it may be time to dust them off and begin to promote their utilization.  If you don’t, look to a variety of sources (including the Office of Personnel Management) for assistance.  At a time when employees need to look to their employers for solutions, taking this proactive and empathetic step can make all the difference.

Let’s keep the conversation going.