On Earth Day 2021, not only do we need to consider how we reduce our impact on the planet, but also how we can play a role in repairing the damage already done. “We are at the edge of a cliff,” says Kathleen Rogers, president of EarthDay.org. “If we don’t act now to reduce carbon emissions, there will be no way back”.

Action at all levels, across all sectors, is required, and at a time when businesses are planning their return to the office, it is critical that we prioritize how we do this with purpose and clear intent. While we want people to be able to return to the office and reap its many social and collaborative benefits, from an environmental perspective, we fundamentally need to make sure individuals are returning to the office for the right reasons. If the past 12 months have taught us anything, it is that remote working can be incredibly effective and is no longer something for businesses to fear or resist. The experience has proved that individuals do not need to “go to work” to be productive and do their jobs.

There appears to be consensus, at a global level, that hybrid working is the future. In fact, a recent EMEA-wide study by Citrix found that 52 percent of European office workers would like a hybrid-work model where they can choose to work remotely or from the office each day. Giving individuals choice in how they work will be critical, and employers should be fully supportive of those who place environmental concerns at the center of their decision making. Earth Day also reminds us of the pressing need for businesses to encourage employees to work from home, when it makes sense, to help reduce their individual impact on the planet.

There are two key actions businesses can take this year to ensure a meaningful return to the office:

Commuting with Purpose

Businesses must move away from an outdated culture of presenteeism, asking individuals to be in the office purely for the sake of being there. Instead, we need to make sure people are going back to the office for the right reasons.

Fundamentally, we want to get people back to the office with their colleagues for social connection and the positive benefits this can bring to employee well-being and mental health. We must also allow people to take advantage of the informal interactions that can only happen in the office, along with social cues that can best be observed in a physical meeting, from which ideas and creativity can come.

However, a return to the office must be balanced with the environmental cost of work-related travel. Employers and workers alike need to ensure they are commuting with purpose, only expending those carbon emissions when there is true benefit to be had. In the UK alone, commuting by car has been thought to account for 25 percent of all carbon emissions, and for individuals who, prior to the pandemic, undertook regular air travel, this will have significantly increased their individual carbon footprint as well as their business’. There is much that employers can do to influence work-related travel behaviour, using technology in the right way to avoid unnecessary travel.

Ensuring Workforce Equality

We want to make sure that when we gradually bring people back to the office, every individual, irrespective of where they work, has equal opportunity to contribute and equal opportunity to be recognized for that contribution. While many people have been at home over the past year working remotely, there has been a level playing field. However, as we move towards a hybrid model of work, in organizations where there is a strong office-based culture, maintaining workforce equality might be difficult. These attitudes will need to be challenged, and managers may need to invest additional time in colleagues who are most often remote.

Over the past year, managers have learnt a lot about how to communicate better and how to lead by example. As we move into the next phase of hybrid working, we need leaders of organizations to set good examples, demonstrating personally that it is fine to work from home. For example, Joe Garner, CEO of Nationwide Building Society, has gone on record saying he plans to work remotely one to two days a week, to reassure staff that they will not damage their own career prospects by choosing not to come into an office. “Whatever leaderships of organizations say they want to happen, people will follow behavior more than words,” Garner said in a recent interview with the Financial Times.

And so, as we reflect on the positive differences we can make this Earth Day, let us make sure that when we return to the office, we are doing so with purpose, at the right time, providing individuals with an equal say in their future as well as their work-related impact on the planet.


Business leaders can take advantage of technology to help their employees feel engaged when working remotely and feel safe when they return to the office. Communicating on company well-being initiatives and planning a safe reopen of an office can be simplified with a digital workspace solution.