7 steps to working from home sustainably
As many businesses continue with flexible ways of working, we need to better understand how we can support and encourage employees to work from home sustainably.
Working from home has clear environmental benefits such as fewer emissions from commuting and improved air quality. Based on findings from Breathe London, ‘Working from home could cut 11 billion car miles per year, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by an astounding 3.3 million tons in London alone.’ Not to mention the reduction in single-plastic usage, paper consumption and more. By engaging your employees to act more sustainably at home, collectively, we can have a big impact on our planet.
So what actions can we take to be greener when working remotely?
1. Be energy efficient
Using your energy more efficiently will help you reduce your carbon footprint as well as your energy bills. Remote working allows you more freedom to be in control. You can lower your thermostat temperature, unplug devices and light your workspace correctly to save unnecessary energy consumption. Consider changing to a greener supplier that provides renewable energy tariffs.
2. Encourage green habits
Incentivise your employees to adopt green practices by getting involved with environmental challenges like Plastic Free July and offer rewards to celebrate those who make a conscious effort to change their behaviour. Ideas could be having sustainability star of the month or gifting something sustainable like a reusable bottle or tote bag. If you’re an employee rather than the employer, speak with your manager and state why you think your business should go greener and recommend the suggestions above as a starting point.
3. Redirect your time
We very often feel like we don’t have enough time to do everything we want to do. However, working from home can save significant commuting time. Think about how you could use some of this extra time to benefit your community. Perhaps you could spend the hour you would have used commuting to and from work to do a litter pick, start growing your own vegetables and share the produce with neighbours or get involved in local volunteering projects.
4. Eat, drink and be greener
Working from home can help reduce the amount of single-use plastic you use as you avoid plastic from making lunch at home and also use our own cups, glasses, cutlery and plates. However, there are still other things you can do to be more sustainable, make sure you cook in bulk and use your leftovers to avoid unnecessary food waste. If you’re using appliances at home like boiling the kettle, only use the water you need or for dishwashers, make sure it’s at full capacity and on the eco setting.
5. Reduce your waste
If every person focused on minimising their waste at home, collectively it would have a big impact on the planet. Ditching the printer and using digital documents and e-signatures is a good way to reduce the amount of paper and ink we use as well as energy for powering the printer. Go further still, and eliminate paper altogether. Lose the notepad and the plastic biros and use your laptop for making notes.
6. Use tech sustainably
For most of us, using our laptop, computer or tablet is a significant source of power when it comes to working from home. When choosing a device, going for a refurbished one will help lessen resources to purchasing a new one and is usually less expensive, speak with your HR team if you’re not in control of the purchase decision. Whilst using the device, keep your brightness lower to use less power and when you’re not using it, make sure to either put it in standby mode or hibernate (most energy efficient) to reduce energy consumption. You can also reduce your digital carbon footprint by closing unnecessary tabs, deleting emails, downloading rather than streaming content and sending direct emails rather than to ‘all’ if possible.
7. Educate yourself
Sustainability can seem complex and although many of us are well aware of the changing climate, we can feel unsure of how we can actually make a difference. By choosing to learn more about sustainability you can make more sustainable decisions. Signing up for sustainability newsletters and blogs and following sustainability social media accounts will help keep you informed about current sustainability trends, and tips to become more sustainable and connect you with like-minded people.
Working from home offers us a unique opportunity to empower individuals to do their part for the planet and adopt sustainable habits and practices. Zellar can support your business in going greener whether in the office or at home. Find out more about how we can help you on your journey to net zero and save costs at zellar.com