FOCUS ROUTES TO WORK
SAFE TRAVELS
The pandemic has brought a range of challenges, one of this is just getting to work.
How do you help workers stay safe, healthy and comply with social distancing
measures while still meeting ambitious environmental targets? Andy Brown looks at
alternative routes to work
Pressure on organisations of all
kinds to become more sustainable,
cut their carbon emissions
and basically do the right thing is
commonplace and rightly so. The UK’s
leading commercial property owners and
FMs have signed up to the delivery of
net zero carbon real estate portfolios by
2050 including ENGIE, Mitie, Sodexo, ISS
and JLL. But when times are tough it’s
not easy to keep faith with green pledges,
especially when research suggested
people preferred to avoid public
transport, and many employers agreed.
Jean-Patrick Judson, Anabas Account
Manager, explained: “Reacting in a safe
manner had to be priority. To protect the
health of our workforce, Anabas, and some
28 NOVEMBER 2020
of our clients, advised sta not to use public
transport. Colleagues that needed help
travelling to work to avoid using public
transport were supported by the company.
This was the right thing to do to safeguard
the wellbeing of our employees.”
Everyone we spoke to made safeguarding
sta the top priority. Jasmine Hudson,
HR Director, Mitie explained: “We’ve put a
number of initiatives in place to support
our people when travelling to work. This
includes simple solutions, such as being
flexible with start and finish times wherever
possible and giving all Mitie employees
two reusable face coverings to use on their
commutes, all the way through to providing
buses for colleagues who normally car share,
ensuring there’s enough space on board to
socially distance.”
Again, like other service providers, Anabas
adjusted shi s and some people were
furloughed so there was less of a demand for
transport. But how did they get to work?
James Mabbett, Head of Client Solutions
and CSR, Atalian Servest said: “From
January to August, we saw around a 50
per cent reduction in fuel use across the
business. This can largely be attributed to
people working from home, where possible,
but our cycle to work scheme, which has
been in place since March, has seen a
positive uptake, providing a cost-e ective
and sustainable method of transport to get
to and from work.”
ACTIVE ROUTES TO WORK