To save costs, try working at home

A senior Finance Ministry official, who asked not to be named, said the ministry was considering a work-at-home programme where employees would need to go to the office only four days a week.

"Should I take Wednesdays off? Or I would rather stay home to work on Monday because usually the traffic on Monday is very bad," he said.

Charamporn Jotikasathira, senior executive vice president of Siam Commercial Bank, said he had reduced the cost of commuting by turning to do more Internet transactions and teleconferencing.

Danuj Bunnag, a vice president at Thai Airways International, said an energy-saving plan pending management's approval included cuts in air-conditioner power consumption, paperless office communications and fewer business trips abroad.

"We also do re-routing to better match aircraft capacities with passengers while trying to minimise excess loads," Danuj said, adding he also uses more Skytrain and subway trips for commuting.

Total Access Communication's executive Patraporn Sirodom said more call-centre personnel would work at home during the midnight shift to lower costs.

A group of selected staff will be provided with a computer, headset and high-speed Internet access so that they can answer customers' calls and monitor call centre traffic from home.

Some middle management already have air-cards to stay connected with business emails and other important updates wherever they are.

Advanced Info Service said the firm was working on measures to help employees deal with rising living costs. However, it has no plan to have employees work at home, given that most work needs close staff collaboration.

Centara Hotels and Resorts could not afford to let employees work from home as the service company had to work around the clock.

Instead, the hotel focuses on reducing energy consumption. It plans to reduce power use by 10 per cent a year.

David Good, vice president for operations, said to achieve the goal, automation systems were in place. It also uses recycled water for washing purposes.

The Bank of Thailand has encouraged staff to work from home one day a week. Governor Tarisa Watanagase said it was successful.