Work Wise Week 15th to 21st May

Companies which allow employees to work from home will be doing their bit to ease traffic congestion and reduce climate change, say Work Wise North East campaigners. 

National Work Wise Week started yesterday with National Work from Home (15th May) which urged employers to take part in home working trials to revolutionise their working practices, reduce carbon emissions and help the environment.

During the week both employers and employees are being invited to try out new smarter working practices, such as home, flexible, mobile and remote working so they can see how their organisations can benefit.

On day two of Work Wise Week (16th May) Work Wise campaigners say the widespread introduction of smarter working practices will significantly reduce the need to travel to work, making a huge difference to the levels of carbon dioxide emissions from cars and other means of transport.

Enabling more home working and introducing smarter working practices would also result in a fall of peak time congestion and overcrowding say campaigners.

Simon Roberson, regional chairman of Work Wise North East said:  "This will probably be one of the least costly and most effective steps that companies could take to make their contribution to reducing emissions.

"Adopting smarter working practices is a win-win situation; not only will it help reduce carbon footprint but it will also provide staff with a better work life balance

"We no longer need to work nine to five, five days a week to be productive.  Research has shown that workers can be far more productive when they work flexibly and work from home

The RAC Foundation, a supporting partner of Work Wise UK, calculates that 25 million people in the UK commute to and from a fixed place of work, of which 18 million people go by car and seven million by other means. The influential Eddington Report predicted that if recent trends continue, by 2025, congestion will waste around £22 billion worth of time in England alone.
 
"It would not take much to see a real impact," added Simon "Even if staff worked only an average of one day every two weeks at home, this would result in ten per cent less people commuting and travelling. Think of the impact that would have on our roads, trains and buses.
 
"In my company BT, the savings in commuter travel by BT homeworkers is over 20 million miles per year. This is a conservative estimate based on each commuter avoiding 100 commutes a year of a round trip of 15 miles.
 
Nearly 3.5 million people already work from home in the UK - 12.2 per cent or one-in-eight of the working population - an increase of 600,000 since 1997. Many organisations already benefit from the cost saving and increased productivity benefits that smarter working brings.
 
The highest proportion of home workers is in the South West with 15.7 per cent, followed by Eastern England with 14.4 per cent. The lowest is in the North East with 9.3 per cent (which is why the North East was the first region to adopt the Work Wise campaign) followed by Scotland with 9.4 per cent.

Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK said: "The realisation of the damage our working patters are causing the environment, further underlines the need for us to have a workplace revolution so that we can minimise the impact of human activity on the environment"

"The age of working 9 to 5, five days a week, from a central location, is for many, fast coming to an end.

"This rigid work structure, which is largely dictated by culture and nothing else, is wasteful in terms of time and resources, damaging to the environment, and harmful in that it impacts upon stress levels and the health of employees.

Work Wise Week is being staged by Work Wise UK, a major five-year not-for-profit initiative. The North East was the first region to adopt the flagship campaign which celebrated it first anniversary in March.

To assist organisations wanting to adopt smarter working practices, Work Wise UK provides guidance and assistance through its website (www.workwiseuk.org) and via a national network of advisers, and offers a framework for employers to work to, culminating in the award of the Work Wise Mark of Excellence.

The campaign has attracted wide-ranging support from leading organisations in the region including the North East Chamber of Commerce, EEF, TUC BT and One NorthEast (see editors note below).

Further information about Work Wise UK, and how organisations can participate in Work Wise Week, can be found on the website (www.workwiseuk.org).

ENDS

For further information, please contact: Sheila Chapman PR on 07732 827 486 scpr@btopenworld.com

Notes to editors:

A number of spokespersons are available for interview
Further information about Work Wise UK, useful guides and material can be found on the website www.workwiseuk.org.
Supporters of the Work Wise UK North East campaign include the  TUC, NECC, EEF Northern, Dickinson Dees, Onyx Group, the Workplace Travel Plan Company,  Government Office North East, One NorthEast, BT, Nexus, Association of North East Councils and Equality North East.