Before you order your team back to the office, consider the benefits of home working for the world around us.
COVID-19 turned most of us into homeworkers. However, while the virus is no longer with us (fingers crossed), homeworking appears to be here to stay. ONS figures from earlier this year show that around 40% of workers in the UK spend at least one day a week working from home.
There are differences of opinion over whether this is a good thing from a business perspective, but from an environmental standpoint, remote work has a significant impact. In this article, we’ll examine seven reasons home working is better for the environment.
1 – Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
One of the biggest environmental advantages of home working is the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. When employees work from home, they don’t need to commute to the office. Given that 45% of people in the UK travel to work by car or van, any reduction in commuting could significantly lower the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) – a major contributor to climate change) released into the atmosphere.
By working from home, employees can help decrease vehicle emissions, resulting in improved air quality and reduced environmental impact.
2 – Energy conservation
Working from home also helps to save energy. Traditional offices consume a large amount of power for lighting, heating, air-con, lifts and other equipment, for example. While many office buildings are modern and energy efficient, more are old buildings not designed with energy consumption in mind.
When employees work remotely, the demand for that energy reduces. This means less need to burn fossil fuels for energy production, lower greenhouse emissions from power plants and a gentler environmental impact.
Remote workers are typically more energy efficient than office workers, perhaps because it’s their money they’re spending on power. They’re more likely to turn lights off, for example. It’s a minor thing, but it all helps reduce that all-important carbon footprint.
3 – Decreased resource consumption
When people work from home instead of an office, they use fewer resources. There’s less need for office supplies like paper because teams share documents on email, Slack or Google Drive etc. Paper, pens and other office materials are often derived from natural resources.
Furthermore, home workers typically make their own teas, coffees and lunch, so there’s less need for takeaways that create so much single-use waste.
Finally, the decline in commuter numbers means transport infrastructure lasts longer. There’s less demand for road construction or maintenance. Train companies do not need to allocate such extensive resources to fixing wear and tear.
4 – Preserving natural spaces
Home working reduces the pressure on urban infrastructure, such as trains, roads and public buildings. When fewer people work in the city, the need for building or expanding offices, car parks and streets can be minimised.
This lack of expansion into previously undeveloped areas could help protect green spaces, wildlife habitats and natural ecosystems, thereby preserving biodiversity.
5 – Better air quality
Home working positively impacts urban air quality by reducing the number of vehicles on the road. Of course, vehicle emissions contribute to poor air quality, including harmful pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM).
With more home workers and less pollution, positive outcomes include improved respiratory health for people and reduced environmental degradation.
6 – Quality of life
Taking that commute out of the average workday gives people time back. It’s clear that since the pandemic, people are living much happier lives because of this extra time. And there could be an environmental benefit too.
For example, if people have more time at home, they might spend it cooking fresh meals from scratch instead of consuming processed food. This cuts down on waste from plastic packaging and reduces the demand for food production.
Eliminating the commute also reduces stress on people as they don’t have to deal with as many traffic jams or train cancellations. It all adds up to a better work/life balance for the individual, with less risk of burnout and other negative stress-related outcomes.
7 – Lower population density
Our final reason why home working is better for the environment is that it gives people the ability to live where they want. For so many people in today’s world, if you have an internet connection, you can work. It doesn’t matter if you’re in London or Lagos.
We’re already seeing people moving out of traditional residential areas in the commuter belt in favour of the coast or rural countryside. This leads to a reduction in population density in the suburbs, which is good for the local environment in terms of vehicle emissions, demands on infrastructure and energy consumption.
Lead the way
Of course, there are counterarguments to home working, many of them put forward by people with vested interests in getting employees back to the office. They say that office work is better for team collaboration, building a career through networking, and there’s also the social aspect. But there’s always a happy medium, and the best companies are leaving it up to the individual how and where they want to work rather than dictating policy.
However, there’s no doubt that from an environmental perspective, home working is having a dramatic positive impact. So, if you want to be more environmentally conscious in your company, ignore the naysayers and lead the way. Build a remote-first environment and reap the rewards.