Do good and save money
Going remote can help Cork companies of all sizes play their part in helping Ireland meet its national climate action targets.
It can help companies to do this in a profitable and sustainable way, according to non-profit social enterprise Grow Remote.
“Not only can implementing a remote working model in your business lead to increased profitability and significant cost savings, it can be a powerful tool for local impact and social change on a wider scale,” says Kathy McKenna, Communications Manager for Grow Remote.
“By transitioning to a remote working model, your business can reap the proven benefits of increased employee productivity, reduced illness and absence, the opportunity to hire from a larger talent pool and lower staff turnover - all of which have a significant impact on your bottom line.”
Grow Remote is a social enterprise, with a mission to enable people to work, live and participate locally.
The Government’s data on this is contained in the recently published document, An Evaluation of the Impacts of Remote Working. Specifically, the researchers estimate that remote working has the potential to save almost 165,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
“In these times of worrying inflation, there are also potentially major cost savings in terms of allowing your company to move away from having to run one or many commercial premises, and reducing your spend on costs such as electricity, heating, cleaning, security, and more.”
In turn, this has the potential to translate into a sizeable reduction in the carbon emissions your business generates. Not only is this something Cork firms could be proud of, but it makes long-term financial sense as well.
“We don’t know exactly what form they’ll take, but widespread carbon emissions rules, restrictions and reporting obligations for companies of all sizes seem inevitable if we are to have any chance of meeting our climate change targets on a national level.”
Experts in this field predict that if businesses plan now to reduce their overall carbon footprint - including the opportunity to go remote - they will experience far less disruption in the future.
Grow Remote will be taking a deeper look at this issue in its third national conference early next year, which will focus on the social impact of remote working, including climate change.
In the meantime, businesses can take advantage of a suite of employer resources for transitioning to remote working on the Grow Remote website - growremote.ie/employer-resources.
“We know that asking Cork employers to go remote is asking them to undertake a major transformation project, so we've built a range of resources, supports and training courses to equip and empower businesses of all sizes to successfully and profitably implement a remote working model in the way that makes the most sense for them.”
Towns and villages in Cork are invited to apply to host the third Grow Remote (www.growremote.ie) conference that will take place in April next year: growremote.ie/nominate.