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At the close of fiscal 2008, almost 20,000 employees (more than 57% of our workforce) were working away from the office at least one or two days a week. This included 15,591 Flexible workers and 4,173 Home Assigned workers.
In fiscal 2008, Sun undertook a study of U.S. Open Workers and their habits to understand the program's environmental impact. We tested whether Open Work merely shifts the environmental burden from our company to our employees or if the program has tangible environmental benefits. We learned that employees overestimate the time they spend at the office by about 25%, and only a quarter of employees adjust their heating or cooling system when working from home.
Based on this study, we estimate that employees increase their home energy use by 58 kWh per person, per year when working from home. This is less than the office energy usage of 124 kWh per employee, per year, but there is only a net reduction in energy use if the unused office space is decommissioned. The shift in energy use from Sun to employees costs our people between $6 and $10 per person, per year.
The big revelation of the study is the time and money saved and GHG emissions avoided by reducing or eliminating employee commutes. The study found that in fiscal 2008, Open Work enabled employees to drastically reduce travel time and miles driven, while contributing to our company's overall greenhouse gas emissions reductions. (See the chart below for details.)
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Employee Satisfaction
There is an unmistakable connection between employee satisfaction and Open Work. Our Power of Sun survey results showed that our flexible and innovative work environment is one of the top reasons employees said they would recommend Sun. Employees can achieve a better work/life balance because of the tools and technologies that enable them to perform in a globally distributed environment. The 2008 Power of Sun surveys also revealed that:
- 75% of employees believe that the Open Work program provided the flexibility and support needed to achieve their work objectives (Q3 FY08).
- 74% feel that the work environment at Sun allows them to balance their work and personal life (Q2 FY08).
- 75% believe they have the organizational support and encouragement they need to work effectively from their desired workplace (Q2 FY08).
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