Our Environment
Crunching the numbers with our Work from Home calculator
Covid-19 has redrafted office floorplans around the world and ushered in a revolution in agile working. These changing work behaviours, together with extensive staff consultations and trialling last year, have informed a new Hybrid Working Policy for our UK offices, with many of our Partners and staff now working 60% at the office and 40% at home.
This fundamental change in where and how we work has significant implications for individual carbon emissions and this prompted the launch of our Work From Home (WFH) calculator in 2022. The tool encourages everyone voluntarily — and anonymously — to report data about their WFH practices and commuting patterns.
Currently our carbon calculations estimate our WFH emissions but this app will allow us to quantify home energy usage that is attributable to work far more accurately and support our efforts to work in a more energy-efficient way. The app is also designed to inform and empower our users to make carbon and cost savings at home.
“The WFH energy calculator gave me great insight into how my household consumes energy and the effects — both positive and negative — this has on our environment. Having not had the tools to do this before, thoughts on my personal energy impact hadn’t been at the forefront of my mind. However, with the WFH calculator I have been able to measure my consumption of energy and impact more accurately and I have already begun to make changes.”
Christopher Blackwood, Facilities Manager, Charles Russell Speechlys
“The biggest surprise was the carbon footprint of a daily commute using public transport,” comments Charlotte Duly, Head of Brand Protection at Charles Russell Speechlys. “This has made me view everyday journeys in a different light,” she says.
Facilities Manager Jane Wells described the calculator as “enlightening.” “Looking in detail at our usage illustrated some interesting and surprising patterns,” she adds. “It’s made me much more aware of my carbon footprint as a whole, particularly from the purchase of goods.”
Another user says: “Participating showed that my home’s energy usage/carbon footprint was at least two times over the average, so measures to reduce energy consumption are critical and urgent.”
Launched ahead of World Environment Day (5 June 2022) the Firm has provided additional incentives for use of the tool in the form of prizes, including a long weekend stay for two at a Scottish eco cabin, being a zoo keeper for a day and a foraging, cookery and wild food lunch day at a range of locations.
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