Telecommuting is a logical, stress-reducing, productivity gaining alternative to burning fossil fuels to travel to a congregate workspace.

Now the international technology giant Cisco Systems has just released a study of its own organization demonstrating these benefits and more. Using telecommuting, Cisco estimates annual savings of USD $277 Million. In its in-depth "Teleworker Survey" of almost 2,000 company employees, the company evaluated the social, economic, and environmental impacts associated with telecommuting.

The study found that telecommuting significantly increased employee productivity, work-life flexibility, and job satisfaction. In addition, the report cited that "a majority of respondents experienced a significant increase in work-life flexibility, productivity, and overall satisfaction as a result of their ability to work remotely".

In his classic book, "Anatomy of an Illness", Norman Cousins describes his process of self-healing---when all his healthcare professionals had given up hope. Diagnosed with a rare form of arthritis, he said, "I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep".

Now recent studies presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine confirm other healing properties of laughter. Not only can laughter reduce stress, which can damage the heart, but it can also lead to improved blood flow, which helps prevent high blood pressure.

In both studies, groups of healthy adults watched either a comedy or a documentary film. In one study, during the films, the researchers monitored subjects' carotid arterial blood flow---the main arteries that bring blood to the brain and face.

For the fourth month in a row, The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Indexâ„¢ has increased sharply in the United States. The Index now stands at 54.9 (1985=100), up almost 35 percent from in April (40.8). Their Present Situation Index increased to 28.9 from 25.5 last month and their Expectations Index rose to 72.3 from 51.0 in April. The Consumer Confidence Index is now at its highest level in eight months.

The moderate improvement in current conditions is reflected in continued gains in the Present Situation Index. Growth in the second quarter is likely to be less negative than in the first. While confidence is still weak historically speaking, consumers are significantly less pessimistic than they were earlier this year. Concurrently, expectations are that business conditions, the labor market, and incomes will improve in the coming months--- good news for business executives everywhere on the planet.

In another important study, released last week by Harris Interactive, we see more indications of recovery in the US market. More US residents are now saying they will eat out and spend on entertainment (from 74 percent to 66 percent). The entertainment industry fared slightly better: from 74 percent to 64 percent and that is an improvement of over 15 percent. While the majority of people are still inclined to decrease spending on eating out and entertainment, the numbers are better than they had been two months ago. In other words, though the numbers are still not good, they are not as bad as have been.

Our younger workers are most affected by the current economic crisis even as our older employees are able to handle the trails of this difficult economic time. These findings were recently reported in a study by Boston College's Sloan Center on Aging & Work.

Few would dispute that this economic crisis is the worst the United States has experienced since the Great Depression. According to this new report, "The Difference a Downturn Can Make", part of the Center’s Age & Generations Study, this situation has negatively altered perceptions about job security, supervisor support, job quality, inclusion, and overall employee engagement in the workplace.

As businesses strive to "get lean" and increase productivity, US workers (like their counterparts worldwide) are reporting they are overloaded. Related to these findings, employees of all ages reported a decrease in employee engagement, "a measure of how invested and enthusiastic employees are in their work". While employees overall reported declining engagement, older workers polled appeared to be handling the economic storm better than their younger associates.

Drug abuse remains one of the top five costliest health problems in the United States. Most of the money invested in combating alcohol and drug abuse goes towards responding to the consequences of these societal problems. Only a minimal two percent goes to prevention, according to a recent report from the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

The study also found that 96 percent of the $467.7 billion that federal, state, and local governments spend on substance abuse is used to deal with the public effects, including crime and homelessness. Healthcare costs associated with substance abuse receive the largest percentage (58.0). Governments spend the second largest percentage (13.1) on costs of prosecuting and jailing offenders.

In a related study from the United States Office of Drug Control Policy, over half of the men arrested in nine selected cities tested "positive" for drugs. The only exception to this finding was Washington, DC with 48.6 percent, which experienced an almost 30 percent decrease between 2007 and 2008. Most of the cities, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New York, Portland (Oregon), and Sacramento, either remained the same or decreased in percentages of positively testing men arrested. Only Charlotte increased and then only by a fraction of a percent (0.2).

With reduced recruiting staff and diminished finances, companies will need to be as efficient as possible. One of the gurus of recruiting, Peter Weddle has coined the term "Crowdcruiting", which suggests drawing on under-utilized employer resources as an alternative to burning out current recruiting staffs. These tactics include asking the employees to help with recruiting and tapping into the candidate management system or the file for individuals with qualified resumes.

These ideas would seem to be nothing new, but Weddle intelligently takes the concepts a few steps farther. Although hiring managers consistently rate new hires generated from employee referral programs as "the best", most organizations do not optimize these programs.

Weddle further suggests organizing employees into referral channels and assigning an internal champion to support participation within each channel. This tactic engages each occupational or divisional group with a sense of ownership in the recruiting process and a stake in their future team members.

Second, specifically target the talent you want. Request that employees think beyond their family and friends and identify the best talent their field. Third, create an area on your intranet to post the names of these individuals, "solicit input on their capabilities and personality from other employees, and identify potential contacts with them".

Prompted by the lack of money to spend on vacations, people around the world will turn to agri-entertainment and -tourism—new, highly consumer-focused types of agriculture. These areas may offer additional options for diversification and add stability to farm incomes. To attract these tourists, farmers have invented a wide variety of "entertainment farming" options.

Many of us who live in the United States visited Amish farms as children. These working farms featured animals that those of us who lived in cities had never seen in person. Other types of working farms open to the public include those displaying historical re-creations, crop art (including mazes), pick-your-own (u-pick), and herb farms.

One unique installation is the "little village" in Stanhope, Iowa. Run by the Carlsons, the tiny community includes a school, general store, church, livery stable, and blacksmith shop. All of the buildings are constructed one-half to two-third scale.

Darren Schmall, a California farmer, originated the concept of the "Pizza Farm". A subset of crop art, one field is devoted to a circular arrangement of crops and animals that all represent ingredients. The circle features pie-shaped wedges of pepper plants, wheat, and tomatoes. Other sections house hogs and cattle (representing sausage and cheese). Reportedly, this kind of agri-entertainment is the one of the fastest-growing types of crop art.

For example, a Viking farm and archeological theme park in Lerje, Denmark draws locals and tourists who spend as much as a week living on site to take part in the activities.

Some farms have additional forms of entertainment onsite, including wagon- or hay-rides, horseback riding, vineyard tours, wildlife watching, skeet shooting, and even the opportunity to personally participate in farm activities.

This weekly blog has long promoted the potential of the mobile web. Now, there is another new function for this emerging platform: distance learning. Thanks to state-of-the-art software from a firm called Interactyx, colleges and universities, as well as corporate learning organizations, can now tap into the burgeoning mobile market. In a previous Herman Trend Alert, we highlighted research that indicated people value their cell phones and other mobile devices more highly than their computers.

What is different about this new software is that it encourages social networking (Web 2.0 technology) for the learners to provide mutual support and it costs a fraction of what the other platforms providing similar distribution capabilities charge. Called Topyx, this cost effective, information content distribution platform features a hosted learning management system. So it is ideal for corporate universities as well.