For decades, there has been an increase in the demand for flexibility in where and how employees work. Before the pandemic hit, however, employers and employees had considered alternative work patterns, such as remote work freelancing. Since March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic caused physical restrictions and that accelerated the implementation of the remote work model.

Working from home is no longer an occasional work pattern nowadays. This working arrangement proved to be critical for the continuation of the business and the retention of employees during the pandemic. Many companies worldwide have encouraged or even made remote work a mandatory work model for their employees.

Remote working offers numerous benefits for employees. One of them is a work-life balance which is brought about by the flexible work hours that positively impact the lives of remote employees.

Working remotely has the potential to boost the productivity of remote employees, particularly those with good self-discipline in keeping their work commitments. Fortunately, many remote work tools are enabled to create virtual offices for this purpose while also acting as remote employee monitoring software.

Thus, remote work saves employers’ costs while relieving employees of the challenges in:

• Commuting to and from the office
• Being stuck in traffic during rush hours
• Working according to specific hours and places
• Living in certain cities

Employees not only successfully establish a work-life balance, but they have added another significant advantage in remote work that impacts positively on the environment.

How Does Remote Work Benefit The Environment

Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions

One of the most significant benefits of remote working is the savings in time, energy, and cost for commuting. Remote employees also can reduce their carbon footprint by simply working from home. Now think about the effect it would have when we reduce the number of cars on the roads. The Global Workplace Analytics report states that remote workers’ emissions are reduced by taking 600,000 cars off the road for a year. The same report shows that working from home half the week can reduce emissions by 54 million tons per year.

Cut Fossil Fuel Consumption

Fossil fuel is used in heating, electricity, and transportation which are all essential for our survival. The combustion of fossil fuels, however, emits carbon dioxide which aid in the production of harmful gasses that precipitate the climate crisis’ irreversible consequences.

Despite the environmental movements before the pandemic, a significant number of people still travel to work in vehicles using gasoline or diesel. With fewer people driving to and from work as a result of remote work, there will be a significant reduction in fossil fuel consumption.

To summarize, reducing traffic jams and the need to commute to work every day over long distances impacts not only the employees but also our environment.

Improved Air Quality

With many companies now allowing their workers to work remotely, there will also be a significant impact on global air pollution levels. As a result of the digital transformation, paper consumption is decreasing, and this paperless office strategy helps the environment by saving trees. This method can remove up to 14.7 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by a single remote worker. We can improve air quality by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Despite having a temporary effect, the amount of air pollution reduced has never been so dramatic.

Reduced Usage of Office Supplies

Employees use a large number of physical office resources in a single workday. Consider all the essential office supplies, from paper, furniture, coffee, and cleaning supplies. Remote working successfully digitalizes the swap of documents among co-workers and external partners, resulting in a significant reduction in paper usage with digital software.

Consider how much paper, time, and space are saved as a result of digital documentation. No more printing, labelling, and archiving in large, locked rooms! Furthermore, plastic use has decreased because employees no longer feel the need to use plastic cups with home office supplies.

Reduced Power Consumption

Office energy consumption is nearly twice as high because the workplace environment has so many different requirements. Office spaces tend to use more energy, such as:

• optimal heating or cooling system
• computer and data servers
• printing stations

The demand for all of these requirements is reduced by half when employees work from home. When we look beyond these kinds of necessities, we see that the behavior of an office worker, in particular, influences consumption. An employee, for example, may not want to turn off the light as frequently as when they are at home. On the other hand, studies have shown that every employee who works from home saves at least 5,400 kWh of energy per year.

The Inclination to move to Suburban areas

The main reason people move to big cities is for better job opportunities. Individuals pay higher rents and bear higher living expenses as a result of this. People who work from home can relocate from densely populated areas to more peaceful suburban areas where they are likely to have the support of their families. As a result, small towns will benefit from a more creative workforce, young minds, and more development opportunities.

Similarly, large cities will have more places to breathe, allowing them to become greener, less polluted, and waste-free. Urbanization is responsible for all greenhouse gas emissions due to deforestation for development. People’s quality of life improves as a result of such decentralization. 

Is there a Future for Remote Work?

Studies show that by 2028, 73% of all departments will have remote workers. Large corporations are choosing remote work as much as possible, even in post-pandemic times, and are now figuring out how to increase employee engagement remotely. Employers and employees have gained valuable experience in resolving remote work issues since March 2020. Many businesses, both large and small, have built an effective ecosystem by offering each other resources such as an employee handbook for remote workers.

Summary

Remote work is a long-term solution that is beneficial not only to the employees and employers but also to the environment in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.

The silver lining here is that remote work has a positive environmental impact. All that is required is the knowledge of how to properly set employee expectations for remote work.