Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Working from homeHybrid workingClimate emergencyLatest NewsESG

Sustainability ‘should be factored into remote working decisions’

by Ashleigh Webber 14 Apr 2021
by Ashleigh Webber 14 Apr 2021 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

Employers must factor environmental impact into their decisions around hybrid working and should be aware that working from home may not be as sustainable as it seems, a report says.

Sustainability

Sustainability doubts could restrict business travel post-Covid-19

Green revolution poses threat to jobs in least prosperous regions

Environmental activism: how can an employer impose its views?

Although widespread, regular working from home reduces the need for high-carbon activities such as air travel and commuting to work by car, the report from behavioural science specialist More Than Now and the London School of Economics, suggests this environmental benefit may be offset by other behaviours at home including increased use of consumer electronics, heating consumption and increased non-work travel.

It says that employers should understand and seek to influence the behaviours employees display while working in a hybrid environment. These range from one-off choices like switching to a more sustainable energy provider at home, to habits including temperature-setting at home and driving to work.

James Elfer, founder of MoreThanNow, said: “It’s easy to forget that the shift to hybrid working is happening in the middle of a climate crisis, but the trend will influence how we travel, the technology we use, the waste we generate, and the energy, food and water we consume in our homes.

“Organisations cannot claim a commitment to the environment without designing sustainability into their vision for the future of work.”

Sara Thompson, group HR director at retirement savings company Phoenix Group, which commissioned the report alongside BT, said: “Many companies are thinking about their own sustainability goals currently, and this research highlights the importance of factoring in the impact of employees working from home as part of that.

“Organisations and employees adapted to home working incredibly quickly last year, so there is nothing to stop a move to more sustainable home working practices happening quickly too, and this will be vitally important for our future.”

Recommendations for employers given in the report include:

  • Pre-programming organisation-issued devices to enter “eco-mode” or “standby” after a specified time
  • Reducing cloud usage by encouraging staff to send fewer emails and sticking to a single email trail
  • Encouraging staff to reduce their screen time by setting reminders
  • Encouraging more sustainable food consumption by setting goals and hosting activities including cook-alongs
  • Influencing behaviours by sharing and celebrating progress towards environmental goals
  • Holding virtual meetings rather than asking staff to travel abroad for business meetings.

Separate research from utility switching service Utility Bidder has exposed the impact video meetings have on the environment. An hour-long group Zoom meeting in “gallery view” uses energy that generates CO2 equivalent to driving a tenth of a mile in a petrol car.

  Organisational Development opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more Organisational development jobs

Ashleigh Webber
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is editor at OHW+ and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Prior to joining Personnel Today in 2018, she covered the road transport sector for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in road haulage.

previous post
Asda to cut store bakery roles
next post
Crunch time for British Gas engineers to agree new contract terms

1 comment

Avatar
Gustavo Copelmayer 19 Jun 2021 - 3:50 pm

Sustainability is something that must be taken into account in all organizations due to the current climate crisis. We must always seek to influence in a positive way and in an “ecological way” as this article says. A green everyday, – Gustavo Copelmayer.

Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Davos 2022: ‘Invest in social jobs to save...

27 May 2022

P&O Ferries boss denies reputational damage after mass...

27 May 2022

Why Can’t Managers Manage? Chris Roebuck talks to...

27 May 2022

Parliament launches UK labour market inquiry

27 May 2022

Menopausal worker loses sex and disability discrimination claim

27 May 2022

Employers must help employees ‘flourish’ post-pandemic

27 May 2022

Age remains a barrier to upskilling finds research

27 May 2022

‘Inequality is embedded in our labour market’ says...

27 May 2022

More than £1bn of upskilling loan money has...

26 May 2022

Monkeypox advice for employers: working from home and...

26 May 2022
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+