Small firms boast greenest workers

Employees at small and medium sized business (SMBs) are significantly more likely to take action to cut energy use and carbon emissions, such as turning of lights and computers and promoting recycling, than their counterparts at larger organisations.

That is the conclusion of a major survey of over 1,200 UK workers from energy giant E.ON, which also found that SMBs are more conducive to such measures.

The survey over a third of workers at small firms claimed to have significantly changed their behaviour to curb carbon emissions, while 90 per cent had claimed to have changed their behaviour at least a little. In contrast, less than a fifth of employees at larger multinational firms said they had changed their behaviour significantly.

According to those respondents at larger firms it was the prevalence of formal processes and a sense of not having any influence over the facilities department that was to blame for their lack of action with over two thirds of those polled claiming they did not feel they were in charge of efforts to cut energy use.

Jim Macdonald, commercial director at E.ON, said that those larger firms committed to cutting carbon emissions needed to address this sense of disenfranchisement as a matter of urgency if they are to make energy saving initiatives work. "Businesses seeking to go green must look at cutting the red tape their employees face in implementing energy efficient work practices," he advised. "Our research shows that, it's a feeling of needing to ask permission to make positive changes which prevents workers from taking the necessary steps. "

However, the report did throw up some good news for larger firms, revealing that the same formal processes that stop people taking individual action to save energy can also be harnessed to help drive through successful green initiatives. Whereas only 28 per cent of respondents working at small businesses said that enforced procedures would help to change their behaviour, almost half of those employed by international firms reckoned enforced processes would have an impact on their actions.

The findings come just weeks after a study from the Carbon Trust revealed that failure to undertake basic steps to cut office energy use is rife with an estimated £12.7bn being wasted annually by UK plc as a result.