Kyocera Environmental Surveys

Kyocera recently carried out a survey on the influence of the environment amongst staff in UK businesses. The survey also examined levels of employee engagement with green initiatives, and levels of personal concern versus perceived levels of organisational concern for the environment.

The study was carried out by the Loudhouse research consultancy among office workers and managers from across the public and private sector and the key findings are listed below.

One of the most important aspects of reducing the environmental impact of a business is motivating employees to support new policies and procedures. Recent research carried out on behalf of Kyocera as shown that while 77% of employees feel personally concerned about environmental issues, they don’t take this level of concern with them into the workplace. The research showed that for environmental policies to be effective in the workplace, they need to be implemented and enforced from a senior level and have a 'top down' approach.

Businesses continue to take a ‘light green’ approach to environmental issues, according to the research. The study, carried out by the Loudhouse research consultancy among office workers and managers from across the public and private sector, shows that organisations are adopting a “quick win” attitude towards green office practices, tending to focus on easily achievable goals.

The survey also shows that the current credit crunch coupled with soaring energy prices, is in fact forcing businesses to make cutbacks which could, in the long term, help reduce their impact on the environment.

The survey revealed that cost constraints are one of the key concerns when companies are trying to implement green initiatives, with 54% citing cost as a significant barrier, as expected. However, there was a sense that concern over energy prices in an economic downturn will have a knock-on effect on encouraging environmental actions such as reducing consumption. 60% of respondents believed that rising energy prices would encourage organisations to take steps to become more environmentally responsible.