1 in 3 social housing employees ‘feel no responsibility’ for environment

1 in 3 employees in the social housing sector say they feel no responsibility to be environmentally friendly at work, according to a survey.

Drainage company Metro Rod asked over 2,000 people their views on a range of environmental issues with many admitting that they paid no consideration to a number of issues that have a significant impact on building facilities and the working environment.

This included 36% saying they did not worry about drains at work as their businesses will pay to repair them; 40% that said they did not worry about energy consumption as they don’t pick up the bill and 27% that said they cared less about recycling at work as it isn’t their responsibility.

Social housing employees reported a range of factors that influence their likelihood of being environmentally friendly in the workplace, with 40% saying they were less likely to take this into consideration when they are busy.

A further 7% said they were less likely to be environmentally friendly when tired and 13% said they didn’t bother at work because their actions would make no difference to their employers’ environmental impact.

While 60% of social housing employees reported engaging in environmentally friendly practices such as recycling in the workplace this was lower than the 73% who engaged in the same practices at home.

Peter Molloy, managing director at Metro Rod, said: ‘When you consider the number of hours we spend in the workplace, and the findings we have uncovered, there is significant potential that our collective activity at work has been impacting the environment more than we ever previously realised. And this is becoming a major part of a much wider problem.

‘As an example, workers reported not caring about their impact on drains at work (36%), or about their energy consumption in the workplace (40%), because they’re not paying the bill.

‘This lack of employee responsibility and culpability, if it is not quickly addressed, will continue to have serious consequences for the environment and ultimately for the UK’s infrastructure.

Photo Credit – Pixabay