The Covid-19 pandemic gave rise to the largest remote work “experiment” in history, accelerating a long-term trend towards flexible, remote work, and digitalization. The percentage of people working from home in the U.S. alone rose from 5% to 37% during the height of the pandemic. Now, companies are experimenting with different models of remote work as we come out of the crises. Recent surveys show that 91% of remote employees would like to continue their hybrid or remote working, and 76% say their employer will allow them to work remotely going forward.
Is Remote Work Actually Better for the Environment?
Common sense says that without a commute, employees who can work from home (WFH) have a lower environmental impact than their in-office peers, but this isn’t necessarily the case. In fact, when multiple environmental net impacts are taken into consideration, including factors like energy and technology usage, WFH is not a clear win for the environment. Companies that are taking action on environmental sustainability — and all should be — need to be conscious of this as they develop remote work policies. The authors of this piece — three behavioral scientists working on sustainability, well-being, and the future of work — think that making WFH sustainable is possible. But doing so requires doing more than simply calculating a simple commute trade-off.