The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced that it will expand its formal telework policy to include all full-time employees and encourage staff to spend four days in the office and work one day each week from home.

 

Gary Shapiro, CEA president and CEO, made the announcement at CEA headquarters at a luncheon with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and his Cabinet and the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC).

 

“Given the increasing concerns over climate change, CEA is taking a leadership role to help protect Virginia’s environment,” said Shapiro. “It is fitting that the association representing the technology products that make telework possible institutes a robust telecommuting policy for all of its employees.”

 

The new policy is aimed at primarily reducing an employee’s carbon footprint with added advantage of reducing congestion in Northern Virginia. It is estimated that an employee living in Sterling, Virginia will avoid 2080 miles a year thus saving 52 hours in commute time while decreasing carbon dioxide emissions by 1,470 lbs. a year.

 

A separate study commissioned by CEA indicated that one day of telecommuting saves the equivalent of up to 12 hours of an average household’s electricity use.

 

CEA has been pursing pro-environmental policies with host of other incentives for its employees. It includes a $25,000 forgivable three-year loan to assist with the purchase of a home close to its Arlington headquarters, a $115 per month metro subsidy to further the use of mass transit and facilitating walking or biking to work through on-site locker rooms.

 

 “Workers in the DC metro region continue to list commuting as one of their top challenges,” said Annemarie Ramirez, senior vice president of Human Resources at CEA. “We have studied the successes of federal agencies in our area that have instituted telework policies and see the bottom-line benefits for both employees and employers. By instituting this benefit for all our employees, including full-time hourly staff, we not only increase the flexibility of working at CEA but also help our employees save on gasoline and other commuting costs.”

 

The focus on variety of employee benefits aimed at instilling a better work/life balance and also incorporate benefits that help society in general helped CEA get the recognition when Washingtonian magazine included CEA in its list of “Great Place to Work” in the annual survey of DC-area employers.