Regus is showing South Africa’s companies how to offset their carbon footprint – and benefit their businesses – by changing the way they work during and after the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
As the COP17 event takes place in Durban from 28 November to 9 December, Regus is underlining the impact of flexible working on lowering carbon emissions and in helping businesses to grow.
Many global corporations are leading the way, with big names such as Yell closing under-used offices in favour of a flexible working model where sales teams use business lounges on an as-needed basis.
Other solutions include hotdesking when workers don’t all need to be in the same office and using video communication to save on travel. Four-fifths of companies in South Africa offer staff flexible working according to Regus’ Flexible Working Report but it needs to become the new working norm to really benefit the environment.
“Allowing staff to work flexibly leads to lower carbon emissions because when they’re not travelling they are not polluting. An added bonus to the business is the boost to morale that flexible working creates and the increase in employee productivity.”
—Joanne Bushell, Regus Vice-president for Africa and Middle East
With one-way commutes in South Africa averaging around 29 minutes, commuting not only impacts the environment but also plays havoc with employees’ stress levels. While technology means people can work in other places than the office, they still prefer to be in professional environments such as meeting rooms and business centres closer to home.
Dubbed ‘third places’ by a new independent research report from ZZA Responsive User Environments, these business-like venues enable better work-life balance to be achieved and productivity to improve, as well as benefitting the environment. Companies can also reduce their carbon footprint by reducing their use of unnecessary lighting and heating – the biggest culprits as far as carbon emissions are concerned.
That means being smarter about workspace use. According to our Agility @ Work report, a 30% reduction of floor space creates 30% fewer carbon emissions. Flexible workspace solutions reduce the amount of office space that companies leave unoccupied – around 38% at any given time.
The presence of COP17 in Durban gives South Africa’s business community the chance to be more proactive about its impact on the environment. With only 31% of companies in South Africa monitoring their energy consumption and 19% monitoring their global footprint, there’s still some way to go.
“Finding ways to help the environment should be a priority for companies across the world…It’s not only the right thing to do to ‘save tomorrow today’ as the COP17 conference calls for, but also helps beat the current downturn by saving costs. Investment in green initiatives creates jobs as well.”
—Joanne Bushell, Regus Vice-president for Africa and Middle East
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Image by Hansueli Krapf via Wikipedia
