If you run a home-based business and hire other people to work at home, you may find intrigue and inspiration in the results of the telework programs of one of America’s largest and most profitable global companies.

Over 150 million dollars in benefit in one year alone. That’s the financial benefit realized by AT&T for its work at home or teleworking program(s) in 2003. And each year more and more employees become work at home employees for AT&T. Of course there are also many benefits to AT&T, a global networking company, if more and more companies convert from traditional work environments to virtual work at home or networked work environments.

Work at home programs of smaller companies may realize a much smaller but far more far-reaching and dramatic benefit.

Included in AT&T “virtual offices” are jobs done from employee homes and work performed from other virtual locations such as on-site customer locations, shared offices and hotels.

According to AT&T, a business that has been conducting virtual employment/telecommuting research since 1992, there are many benefits to businesses that offer work at home jobs, as well as numerous and important benefits to families and society as a whole.

Among the main benefits to home businesses that allow their employees to work from their own homes are: increase privacy, increased security, far less stress to your own household, ability for your own home based business to grow in its own environment, increased employee productivity, reduced overhead costs, less turnover, happier employees and big

advantages in recruiting. Ironically, companies who offer work at home opportunities to their employees and prospective employees, especially when recruiting stay at home moms and parents, find themselves with a huge advantage over competitors who do not allow their employees to telecommute, while at the same time reducing their overhead and hiring costs.

What reductions in overhead costs, you ask? The list is long. Telecommuting employees do not occupy space needed by your own home business or your family, they occupy their own space. These employees also do not consume utilities or other resources that may be needed by your own home business. Virtual employees don’t use your bathrooms or kitchen. Virtual employees don’t park on your street and threaten problems with your home owners association or city code inspector. Employees who work off-site may be working on their own office equipment, such as PC, internet access, phone and/or fax instead of these assets being available for your own home business and work, although some employers do provide and/or pay for these expenses. Employees who work at home are less likely to quit, so recruiting and training costs and greatly reduced. Employees who work at home are more productive so fewer employees are needed to achieve the same results. Employees who are highly motivated to work at home, such as work at home moms and dads, may work for less salary if they’re allowed to stay at home, and working at home also costs employees less. Companies who find themselves frequently paying for relocation costs of existing and/or new employees will find that these costs virtually disappear into smoke when they convert these jobs into work at home jobs.

Home based businesses creating such virtual or off-site job opportunities is are creating a win-win-win situation for employers, employees and society as a whole.

Home businesses who allow their employees to work at home on computer networks instead of brick and mortar offices realize many other benefits as well. Companies who allow employees to telecommute or offer work at home jobs can recruit from virtually anywhere and have no relocation costs associated with employees who do not live within commuting distance to a traditional brick and mortar office. Additionally, companies can recruit employees who are not willing to relocate.

Networks also allow the dissemination of core information that can help eliminate gaps in communication and productivity and allow companies to operate outside of the 9 to 5 rut.

AT&T states, “Our experience and data suggest than an organization organized around a network is more efficient, effective, flexible and resilient organization.”

We would add that, as we somberly remember the events of September 11, 2001 during which whole companies were wiped out because they were centrally located, it is noteworthy that companies who are not centrally located and who employ a full or partially home-based work at home workforce are safer from such types of attacks. Similarly one must consider the extreme and destructive losses in productivity in the America Media offices in Florida during their anthrax attack when the entire building had to be closed for many days. Similar interruptions in productivity occurred in government and other buildings and could occur virtually anytime in any building in America. From this perspective companies and employees are far safer and potentially far more productive if they work at home.

69% of employees who work at home or from virtual locations for AT&T say that they consider it a major advantage that their employer allows them to work at home and that this shows that the company cares about them and the issues that are important to them. 74% cite another major advantage of their virtual job is balancing their work and family.

Having more time with family is the most common reason people want to telecommute, which hints at a powerful and very valuable recruiting niche that telecommuting companies should consider exploiting: stay at home moms.

Stay at home moms that want telecommute are often highly trained professionals that want a lifestyle change to be able to spend more time at home with their families. Businesses that create jobs for moms are wise to tap into this market.

Few are the companies who can realize a $150 million benefit to any change in their business models, but the benefits of creating telecommuting work opportunities are many and they are clear. Allowing your employees to telecommute is good for business.