THE ENVIRONMENT
Businesses urged to look at smart travel plans
The National Business Travel Network (NBTN), part of the government's ACT on CO2 campaign, has called on businesses to implement smart travel plans, including car sharing, cycle schemes and flexible working, to reduce CO2 emissions and bolster employee well-being and productivity.
The NBTN argues that reducing unnecessary and costly travel can help companies cope in the tough economic climate. But according to recent figures, only 6% of UK companies facilitate sustainable travel for employees.
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Research findings
Latest research by NBTN, of employee’s who travel to work in Great Britain, reveals that almost two-thirds of those surveyed (63%) would take up a work travel plan if their company offered one.
More than one in four (28%) of respondents stated that flexible working would also increase their loyalty to an employer.
Over a fifth (24%) felt it would significantly improve their productivity.
Key factors which currently determine employees chosen method of transport are convenience (64%) and cost (29%).
Just over a third of those surveyed currently use a car to drive themselves to work, however many employee’s who travel to work would consider alternative means of travel, with almost one in five (18%) willing to take part in a car share scheme.
What is a work travel plan?
A work travel plan is a strategy for managing the travel generated by an organisation, with the aim of reducing its environmental impact. A travel plan aims to reduce over-dependence on car use by promoting sustainable alternatives such as working from home, teleconferencing or using alternatives methods of transport such as walking, cycling or public services.
Encouraging car sharing saves employers money on mileage claims and expenses such as parking space maintenance.
Bicycle hire schemes and converting a company car fleet to more fuel efficient and greener vehicles benefits the environment, reducing carbon footprints.
Flexible and homeworking also saves companies considerable costs: at BT it has reduced absenteeism to 3.1% (the national average is 8.5%). And BT has calculated that a reduction in commuting by homeworkers has resulted in over 7.5 million kg of CO2 emissions being avoided from those journeys. Other companies that have successfully implemented smart travel plans include BSkyB and E-ON.
A final word
“Through working in partnership with NBTN we are communicating the effectiveness of workplace travel plans and smarter working policies to other organisations so they can share in the practices that have been so beneficial to BT. At BT we have implemented flexible and homeworking at scale across the organisation, allowing people to work in the way that best suits them, their job, their personal circumstances and our customers. As a result we’ve been able not only to make large financial savings and productivity improvements but also create a more sustainable organisation through reducing travel and CO2 emissions.” - Jon Marsh, Head of Agility at BT Global Services.
“I am urging all businesses to embrace a modern approach to work travel practices. Business resilience, recruitment, retention and business agility to meet customer demands is at the heart of this issue. It is great to see that such a high percentage of employees would consider buying into a work travel scheme and I hope that employers now act on this. The message is clear: flexible workstyles and travel plans are good for the environment, good for business and good for employee well-being.” - Heather McInroy, Programme Director for NBTN.
Want to know more?
The NBTN survey was undertaken by YouGov between 18 and 20 March 2009. The survey was carried out online and the total sample size was 1,971 adults.
The National Business Travel Network (NBTN) is a business-to-business network which enables companies to "share best practice and promote the rationale for travel plans and smarter choices". A Department for Transport initiative and part of the government's ACT on CO2 campaign, NBTN works in partnership with and supports many existing organisations and networks, such as the BCC and CBI.
For further information and advice about work travel plans, visit www.nbtn.org.uk.