Four ways to make everyday Earth Day in Exeter's businesses and workplaces
Keen for your business or workplace to do more for the planet and reduce your impact on the environment, but not sure where to start?
It’s Earth Day tomorrow (22nd April) and, with corporate sustainability having never been higher on the agenda, Simon Ursell, Managing Director of Cirencester-based B Corp certified environmental consultancy Tyler Grange is sharing four ways to help steer more of the nation’s 5.5 million businesses towards a greener future. And the time to act is now.
A new study states that the majority (68%) of UK employees aren’t satisfied with the efforts made to tackle environmental and social concerns.by the companies they work for. A similar number (66%) has already taken steps to live eco-friendlier lifestyles and they expect their employers to do the same - especially Gen Z and Millennials, who’ll account for over 60% of the UK workforce by 2025.
If everyone plays their part - and makes sustainable lifestyle changes at home and at work - CO2 emissions could be slashed by up to 70% by 2050, according to United Nations’ research. Even small shifts in behaviour can make a positive environmental impact, as well as enhancing a firm’s reputation, success, and profitability. And here’s how to go about it.
Cut out unnecessary car journeys
Eliminating the number of unnecessary business miles you travel not only reduces CO2 emissions, but it increases productive work hours too.
Since working a four-day week, we’ve significantly lowered our CO2 emissions from business mileage. For seven months, during the four-day week pilot, we drove a collective 10,558 miles compared to 15,471 miles during the same period the previous year, when we worked five days.
This meant we produced around 4.2 metric tonnes of CO2 as a five-day week company compared to 2.9 tonnes working a four-day week, according to latest calculations, It’s a reduction of over 1.3 tonnes – almost a third less and equivalent to a return flight from London to Hawaii.
Interestingly, we were also 22% more productive working four days, which highlights the number of unnecessary journeys we’d been making when we had more time, and how our use of transport wasn’t as efficient as it is now that we’re electrifying as many journeys as possible.
Make your supply chain more sustainable
Take a close look at your supply chain to ensure its environmental, ethical, and social impacts are minimal. Making even small efforts to procure more sustainably can really help to reduce a company’s carbon footprint – as well as helping to meet those important Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals and objectives.
At Tyler Grange, we buy all our office supplies from fellow B Corp Social Supermarket. From toilet rolls to PPE, all are manufactured by social enterprises and purpose-led brands that allow us to make a real difference every time we place an order.
We’ve also switched our mobile phone contracts to fellow B Corp certified provider, Honest Mobile and we’ve moved our business accommodation and booking over to the Coco+ platform. It finds us the most eco-friendly itineraries and offsets all our business travel impact, with interest, at no extra cost.
Give back to the causes you care most about
Employee volunteering is one of the most effective, efficient ways to engage teams socially, personally and corporately – as well as being great for achieving ESG goals.
Empowering employees to volunteer their time on causes that matter to them makes them happier and healthier, as well as increasing motivation, satisfaction and pride in where they work. And, as well as making the world a better place, it also makes. them more productive in their jobs.
As a purpose-driven business, we take our social responsibility very seriously at Tyler Grange and ensure that all our Tribe volunteer for causes close to their hearts. Working a four-day week frees up more of our time to do this, with each of our 85-strong team dedicating at least one Friday a month to their chosen cause.
As a team of ecologists and environmentalists, they tend to be environmental charities as it’s where our passion and expertise lie, and we’ve pledged to volunteer 10,000 hours to them this year.
Review your productivity versus resource
Reducing emissions and waste are obvious ways to improve environmental sustainability, and there are commercial lessons we can learn from this too.
By introducing sustainable business practices - cutting down on bureaucracy, unnecessary meetings and journeys, and other inefficiencies – you free up time to do your actual job, which makes companies more productive.
When we were preparing to pilot the four-day work week, we scrutinized every area of our operations to determine how we could work more efficiently, effectively, and productively. This saw us eliminate car journeys, meetings and any admin that wasn’t necessary and, as a result, we’re now working 80% of the time, whilst achieving 102% productivity – surpassing our original 100% target - for the same pay and benefits.
Even better, according to our Alertness App, our Tribe is also 14% happier and 28% less tired working reduced hours, which is yet another crucial factor for sustainable productivity. We know that output and creativity are jeopardised when we’re feeling stressed and overworked, and a three-day weekend does wonders to combat this.
It’s also important to note that a shorter working week is argued to be key to achieving the carbon emissions reductions the world needs, which is another compelling reason for companies who want to be greener to give it a go. It isn’t for everyone, but it’s a possibility for many sectors and organisations – it just requires re-thinking entrenched norms and changing workplace cultures.
Tyler Grange Managing Director Simon Ursell said: “Earth Day gives us all an opportunity to consider how we can reduce emissions and live and work more sustainably. Taking even just some of these tips on board would make a real difference.
“With a renewed focus on climate change and the environment, sustainability is rightly taking an increasingly important role at the core of business operations. As a B Corp certified environmental consultancy, sustainability has always been at the heart of everything we do. Through the services we provide, the partners and suppliers we work with, how we look after our Tribe and how we operate on a day-to-day basis, we're delighted that it’s been recognised by becoming B Corp certified.
“We know from experience the many commercial, financial and employee benefits that can be reaped by putting sustainable practices and policies in place. One example is an increase of 40% in the number of renewable energy projects we’ve been awarded over the last year, since we really raised the bar with our environmental credentials.
“As well as being awarded B Corp certification and trialling – and then permanently adopting - a four day week, we’ve also joined the Better Business Network and are supporting the Better Business Act – both of which promote a cleaner, greener, fairer future for all.
“On Earth Day, we hope to encourage more business owners to look at how they could do the same, and that we inspire and empower employees to help drive change, for the good, in their own workplaces.”
Tyler Grange has offices located in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter and Cirencester, in the Cotswolds. For further information visit https://tylergrange.co.uk
