Environmental IT and Flexible Working

Our commitment to the environment

As the UK prepares to head to the polls for one of the closest general elections in decades, we at Basic thought this would be a great time to talk up one of our own policies; namely, our commitment to the environment.

Over the years, we’ve developed our operating practices to be as efficient and green as possible. We recognised the wider value of recycling way back in the 1990s and went to great lengths to cut down on printing, minimise energy output and achieve more with less.

But perhaps our greatest contribution to the push for a greener economy and a cleaner planet is in our focus on remote working.

Flexible remote working

At Basic, we operate a flexible remote working policy, which enables our staff to work from home. As staff members are no longer forced to commute to work every day, this helps to reduce carbon emissions and congestion on the roads, which means an improvement in air quality and less pressure on local transport infrastructure.

Meanwhile, our remote management and monitoring services help our client businesses to not only cut down on energy consumption, which is good both for the finances of the company and the sustainability of the local environment, but also to reduce the need for lots of hardware, which means fewer precious metals and less packaging being used in the production and transport processes.

Remote working and remote management are simple practices, but they can have enormous positive implications for the environment.

Reducing carbon emissions

In 2008, a report entitled Smart 2020; enabling the low carbon economy in the information age,’ by the Climate Group and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) estimated that if properly implemented by all ICT companies in the United States, policies like ours could reduce the country’s CO2 emissions by 13-22% by the year 2020.

And already, the evidence is piling up to support this claim. Flexjobs, the jobs service which helps people to find the best flexible jobs available, recently posted a set of impressive statistics relating to how some US companies managed to reduce carbon emissions thanks to flexible remote working policies.

The website found that in 2014, Dell’s flexible work programs helped to reduce the company’s greenhouse gas emissions by 6,700 metric tons and that Xerox, by allowing more than 8000 employees to work from home, managed to cut down the miles driven by its staff by 92 million – the equivalent of 4.6 million gallons of gas.

Clearly, policies of this kind can have far-reaching and positive consequences for the environment and, given that the EU has pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020, it would make sense for the British government – no matter who’s in charge – to promote companies and practices like our own.

Positive change for businesses

There are many aspects to consider, not simply "technology" to allow remote working, but also, the right applications, workflow and business processes that will enable you to achieve it effectively.

Finally, there are cultural and HR issues that you may need to address. Change can be positive, but also seen as a threat or worry, if not implemented in the right way.

So, if you'd like to explore how you can reduce mileage, costs and emissions by implementing more effective remote working, please contact us.