We now know that daily work commutes are unnecessary

Peter du ToitI'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to improve their climate literacy so as to understand the projected impacts from the expanding climate crisis and how to adapt their workplaces in the face of these impacts.

This experiment in remote working has highlighted a few things.

1) We now know that it IS possible for millions of people to work remotely. So why do these individuals have to commute into an office everyday? The only reason would be that a company has not done the work required to design a workplace that enables an efficient remote workforce.

2) Taken from the QZ piece entitled Remote work is a huge opportunity for high-impact climate policy: “The vanishing of the daily commute has brought to light the burden of cars and trucks on health and the environment. As an intentional effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, at low cost to society, policymakers and businesses should continue to encourage working from home for jobs that allow it, even after the coronavirus crisis has receded.”

We can make a dramatic impact to the health of people and the planet by ending the need for daily office commutes. We have the technology AND the know-how. There is NO excuse to not use these to reimagine every single workplace.

The ability to drive less and fly less is totally within reach. Smart leadership teams will embrace this as we tackle the next major global crisis.