Following the recent Government announcement to relax working from home guidance, millions of workers will be now discussing with their employer when they might return to the office. But will they be discussing the impact of all this working from home on their rising energy bills? Probably not.ย New research reveals businesses are not providing enough support or advice to employees on how to reduce energy costs. Neither are they asking home workers how much energy theyโre using and so cannot be accurately assessing and reporting the businessโs overall carbon impact.
The survey, commissioned by carbon footprint experts and social enterprise Giki, polled over 1,100 employees from across the UK and reveals only 1 in 10 have received advice or encouragement from their employer to reduce their heating bills. A whopping 61% of employees have received absolutely no advice from their employer on how to take green and cost-saving actions such as reducing energy bills, reducing food waste, or using more sustainable modes of travel.
Only 23% of those who have worked from home in the past year have been asked how much energy they use or how much they spend on energy at home by their employer.
This raises the question how businesses – particularly larger ones with many staff now working from home much more regularly โ can measure the full environmental impact of their organisation if theyโre not asking staff about their energy use? The combined personal carbon footprint of staff can be ten times greater than the operational footprint of the company so engaging staff to reduce their personal carbon footprint will greatly help companies achieve their sustainability goals. It will also help staff save money which will be welcomed by many.
Employers are โmore talk than actionโ on green issuesย
The survey also revealed companies appear to be falling behind on their environmental promises. Less than a quarter (24%) of UK workers think their employer is doing a good job in helping to reduce the organisationโs impact on the environment.
In fact, 23% who work for an organisation that claims to be environmentally friendly, green or sustainable in its marketing/advertising, say that they have not received any support from the organisation to be environmentally friendly.
18% stated their employer was โmore talk than actionโ on green issues – this was almost a third (32%) for 16-24 year olds.
Comments from survey respondents included:ย โWell, verbally, their intentions sound good, but I’m not actually aware of any improvements or changes.โ โThey like to tell the staff what they are going to change yet they donโt actually go through with it.โ โMy employer pays lip service to change, but doesnโt effect change.โ โThey will talk about things we should do. Eg use recycled bottles, eat less meat, fly less often, but they donโt encourage this type of behaviour. It isnโt properly enforced.โ โThey talk about these issues but Iโve not seen anything actually implemented.โ
Jo Hand Co-founder of Giki said:ย โWeโre really surprised by how few employees are being asked about their energy use, particularly as so many people are yet again working from home. It may be that this hasnโt even occurred to many business leaders, but it really should be on their radar.ย
โNow more than ever, businesses have a role to play in providing advice and support to staff to reduce their own energy bills both on an environmental and a staff welfare level. Weโre seeing first hand that it can be team building and very motivating when staff come together to tackle an environmental issue collectively. Thereโs also an argument that someย companies should even contribute towards the energy bills of those working from home.โ
Giki Zero Proย is the first sustainability programme for cutting carbon that supports companies who want to engage staff on ESG issues and measure the impact of their actions. Gikiโs clients include NatWest Group, Deloitte and Open University amongst others.
