The following article, which condenses a recent UK survey, is well worth a peruse, and should be a veritable clarion call to employers.

Employees who leave their environmental consciences at home are needlessly wasting energy, and emitting thousands of tonnes of carbon, research has claimed.

An independent study commissioned by solutions provider Logicalis claims that a lack of incentives and poor leadership from management are the main factors preventing employees going green at work.

The December 2006 survey of over 1,000 employees across UK public and private sector organisations found that employees still look to their employer to lead by example when it comes to being environmentally responsible.

This is despite a clear understanding of the steps employees need to adopt to become more environmentally friendly.

Just under two thirds of staff indicated that their employer should offer incentives for being green in the workplace, while 57 per cent said that they could be encouraged to act greener if their employer "led by example".

The poll found that workplace attitudes are in stark contrast to environmental efforts at home, where 94 per cent of people switch off lights, 85 per cent switch off their PC after use, and 54 per cent use only the minimum amount of water needed when boiling a kettle.

Yet only 66 per cent, 53 per cent and 10 per cent of employees respectively carry out these simple green practices in the office.

Tom Kelly, managing director of Logicalis UK, said: "The research tells us that there is a huge, wasteful consumption of energy and resources taking places in offices throughout the UK.

"Organisations must tap into the environmental consciousness being displayed in the home to cut business energy costs and reduce the carbon and environmental footprint."

Kelly suggested that the difference in attitudes could be explained by the fact that just under half of all those surveyed believe that their employer only "pays lip service" to environmental issues. - vnunet

These figures are, in reality, exciting discoveries - in the sense that we can constantly see a great deal of room for energy conservation yet, if we can just tap into it. As Benjamin Franklin used to say - a penny saved is a penny earned. This is especially true when it comes to the environment. A little time invested in greening your business will be recompensed soon enough, and also lingers as the sweet aftertaste of long-term rewards.

Genuinely concerned employers, with a 'do as I do' approach, can make a huge difference.

The same points raised in the survey material could just as easily be transferred across to the political/citizen realm as well....

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