25.04.2024
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF WORKING FROM HOME?
Hybrid working allows businesses to cut their energy use by a fifth as they replace large city-centre office spaces with smaller, more energy-efficient spaces, including flexible workspaces, according to new research from the IWG.
It surveyed more than 500 leaders and facility managers at businesses that have adopted hybrid work policies.
The results show that the average energy consumption of these companies dropped by 19% after the introduction of hybrid work, which benefits both the environment and the bottom line.
The study, produced for World Earth Day (April 22), reveals significant environmental and economic benefits for businesses moving from expensive city center office space to hybrid working models that use smaller regional offices and co-working buildings in strategic locations near the employees' homes.
Almost half of those surveyed (44%) have reduced their traditional office space by a quarter (25%), resulting in lower energy consumption and operating costs. Another 19% achieved even greater reductions, reducing office space by 26-50%. An impressive 84% say hybrid working has been key to reducing their company's overall energy use and carbon footprint, with an even greater reduction predicted as 79% of businesses say they intend to explore additional avenues for optimizing energy consumption, such as downsizing your existing offices or facilitating access to flexible workspaces.
Smaller regional flexible workspaces boast higher occupancy rates and therefore lower emissions per employee. An earlier IWG survey found that only one in five employees would commute more than 30 minutes daily, while 60% wanted to work within 15 minutes of home.
A previous environmental impact study by the IWG and ARUP found that working closer to home could reduce carbon emissions by up to 70% in Manchester (UK), 87% in Los Angeles (US), 82% in New York and almost 90% in Atlanta, mainly due to reduced emissions from buildings and transportation.
Mark Dixon, CEO of the IWG, said: “The global shift to hybrid working brings not only strong productivity and financial benefits to companies, improvements in the work-life balance of employees, but also significant environmental benefits. This latest research confirms that businesses that have adopted the hybrid model have already significantly reduced their energy consumption."
"The environmental benefits of the hybrid operating model do not end there. By enabling people to work close to home and allowing them to split their time between their local workplace and where they live, earlier ARUP research shows this model has the potential to reduce an employee's work-related carbon emissions by 90%", he adds.
