Carbon emissions up, productivity down

Carbon emissions up, productivity down - 37% of UK face-to-face business meetings a waste of time MPs hold meetings online to combat climate change as research reveals unnecessary face-to-face meetings are reducing productivity, contributing to work-place stress and increasing carbon footprints

UK employees think over one third of face-to-face business meetings are both unnecessary and counter-productive, according to research* from web collaboration experts WebEx, published today. On average, workers attend over 91 face-to-face meetings per year, which means that 33 per year are unnecessary, hampering productivity and contributing to UK businesses' carbon emissions.

The research reveals that many companies are failing to take advantage of online meeting technology, which can reduce travel costs and the associated carbon footprints, and improve productivity at the same time. Less than five per cent of meetings currently take place online.

However, Members of Parliament are leading the way in exploiting online meeting technology to reduce travel, cut their carbon footprints, increase access for constituents and save taxpayer money. Nick Hurd, the Conservative MP for Ruislip and Northwood, and Mark Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Ceredigion, have been using WebEx web conferencing and video conferencing technology in the run up to World Environment Day on the 5th June, replacing unnecessary face-to-face meetings and cutting commuting times and costs.

MPs lead by example
Nick Hurd, the Conservative MP for Ruislip and Northwood, says, As MPs, we are constantly having meetings with constituents, colleagues and other stakeholders. Many of these face-to-face meetings are necessary, but many are not. If all MPs took advantage of online meeting technology it would be a significant step in reducing thousands of travel miles and the associated carbon emissions.

Mark Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Ceredigion, comments, I already use the train to travel to and from Westminster, but hope to further reduce my carbon footprint by stopping needless travel to Cardiff or across London for meetings. This also means that I'm reducing my travel expenses - so taxpayers' money can be put to better use. Another key reason for using web conferencing technology is that I want to be as accessible as possible to my constituents. Nothing can replace my traditional surgery, but this means that even when I have to be in London, I can have meetings with my constituents who are over 230 miles away.

Road warriors to eco-warriors
Over 3.5 million people use WebEx every month reducing the time spent traveling to and from meetings that don't need to be face-to-face. Martin Bowman, Sales Director of Scottish software company Gael Quality, has been using online meetings for product demonstrations and customer events since 2003. We used to spend around ten days per month on the road often holding no more than two meetings per day, explains Bowman. Bringing meetings online means we've made huge savings whilst reducing carbon emissions. In fact, for our latest web event, we are due to have over 300 attendees from as far away as the US, Australia and the United Arab Emirates and nobody needs to leave their desks.

Bert van der Zwan, VP EMEA, WebEx said: If the UK is to cut its carbon emissions by up to 32% by 2020, everyone will have to embrace smarter alternatives to commuting and business travel. UK businesses also need to wake up to the fact that overloading their employees with unnecessary meetings is not only damaging the environment, it's reducing productivity, increasing stress levels and creating a poor work-life balance. It's not about replacing face-to-face meetings altogether. It's about considering which meetings don't need to be done in person and using online technology to have effective meetings from anywhere.