As an energy intensive activity, transportation offers a wide range of opportunities to reduce both money and emissions. For most businesses the main type of vehicle use is that of employee’s commuting to and from work, and travel for meetings or training. While there are a wide range of options to help reduce emissions, telecommuting, car pooling and virtual meetings are three ways to significantly reduce your employees’ reliance on vehicle use.
Telecommuting
Telecommuting is on the rise, with recent research showing that around 20% of the global workforce now telecommutes, with 10% of those working from home every day [1]. With ever increasing internet speeds, more and more businesses are considering telecommuting as a way to reduce both their and their employee’s carbon footprints. By allowing employees to work from home they are able to work in a comfortable and safe environment, able to use time previously spent commuting for more productive purposes, and to make significant savings on fuel or public transport. The business also saves money by requiring less office space and parking spaces. By having a smaller work force on site, businesses’ energy and equipment needs are dramatically reduced, allowing for both savings is carbon emissions and electricity bills.
However, there are some disadvantages to telecommuting that need to be addressed before allowing staff to do so. While some people may relish the chance to work undisturbed by other staff or phone calls at home, others may lack the self-motivation to stay focused with distractions around them that would not be found at the office. Research found that 43% of those working from home admitted to watching a tv or movie with another 20% admitting to playing video games during work hours [2]. The benefits of telecommuting can be significant for both employees and businesses, but terms should be worked out between the two to make sure productivity stays high.
Car Pooling
One of the easiest ways to save both fuel and money is by car pooling. By sharing a journey with one or more people you instantly reduce the amount of petrol needed, the amount of vehicles on the road and the amount of driving you do. For employees who have long commutes to make, having company can make a previously tedious journey more enjoyable. The Energy Savings Trust estimates that by sharing a commute with two other people, annual savings of up to £280 can be made [3].
Businesses can encourage car pooling by offering incentives such as guaranteeing a car parking space or organising work events such as coffee mornings to allow employees who live in similar areas to be introduced. For those wanting to carpool but unable to find anyone else at work, websites such as Liftshare allow you to search for other people looking to carpool in your local area and provides a safe and easy way to contact them [4].
‘Virtual’ Meetings and Teleconferencing
Many businesses will have more than one office, and with these offices often spread around the country, it can be expensive and time consuming to get everyone in the same place at the same time for meetings or for training purposes. Face to face meetings can require staff to make long car or air journeys, the latter producing significantly more carbon emissions than any other type of transport.
While face to face meetings are often necessary in some situations, teleconferencing (communication by phone) and virtual meetings (communication by video call) can be a great way to reduce a business’ carbon footprint. You might find our range of headsets and conference phones useful if you are considering undertaking these activities. Software such as Skype [5] is easy to install and use, and is also free, while other software such as iChat comes already installed on Mac computers. Websites such as Socialbrite provide extensive lists of available software, with details such as costs, pros and cons and features [6], reducing the amount of time required to work out which software is best for your business.
References
[1] MySammy. Telecommuter Infographic – Statics and Stats on Telecommuting Workers. 2013. http://www.mysammy.com/infographics-telecommuter
[2] ibid.
[3] Energy Savings Trust. Using the car less. 2013. http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/Travel/Driving/Using-the-car-less#2
[4] Liftshare. Liftshare. 2013. https://www.liftshare.com/uk/
[5] Microsoft. Skype. 2013. http://www.skype.com/en/
[6] Socialbrite. Virtual meeting smackdown! 15 top web conferencing services compared. 2011. http://www.socialbrite.org/2011/01/19/comparison-top-web-conferencing-services/
