{"id":1872,"date":"2020-02-12T09:36:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T09:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/en\/?p=1872"},"modified":"2020-03-22T07:40:01","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T07:40:01","slug":"work-from-home-save-money-and-protect-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/en\/health-nutrition\/work-from-home-save-money-and-protect-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Work from home, save money and protect the environment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Remote Work\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1zwsDbF6pbw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, an expert report initiated by the Israeli Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport and Safety, recommends that public and private sector employers adopt the model of working remotely, thus helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and of course, to reduce road congestion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apart from\ncontributing to a healthier environment, working remotely might help employers to\nsave money on transportation and office space, as well as promoting equal\nopportunities in the employment market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Employers who let their employees work remotely allow them to spend less time at the office and work part of the time (and in some places even all the time) from somewhere else: either from home, the municipal library, shared workspaces, or from regional business centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\npopularity of this model gained momentum in the early 2000s due to today&#8217;s convenient\naccess to technology, infrastructure, internet, and due to the demand of\ngeneration Y &#8211; which largely dictated the nature of the labor market in the\npast decade &#8211; flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While this is not an entirely new trend, today, 72 percent of Human Resource managers around the world, as conducted in a survey conducted by LinkedIn, noted that workplace flexibility is the key trend in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/thought-catalog-Nv-vx3kUR2A-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1874\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/thought-catalog-Nv-vx3kUR2A-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/thought-catalog-Nv-vx3kUR2A-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/thought-catalog-Nv-vx3kUR2A-unsplash-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/thought-catalog-Nv-vx3kUR2A-unsplash-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/thought-catalog-Nv-vx3kUR2A-unsplash-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><em>3% of Israelis work from home on a part-time basis. Another 3% consider home their permanent workplace. Photo by&nbsp;Thought Catalog&nbsp;on&nbsp;Unsplash<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Less spending on real estate, transportation, and parking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The countries\nthat have the highest rates of employees working remotely are the Netherlands,\nwith 14%, and Finland with 13.3%. In the US, as early as 2004, 19% of public\nsector employees worked from home at least one day a week. In 2016, this number\nhad reached 22%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in Israel, the rate of remote workers is on the rise, reaching 3.4% in 2016. However, this figure also includes employees whose workplace was previously at home (dentists, artists, cosmetician and more).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent surveys, which were conducted in association with the &#8220;moving toward green&#8221; experiment (a plan by the Ministry of Transport to encourage workers to travel during off-peak traffic hours), it was found that 3% of Israelis work from home on a part-time basis. Another 3% consider home their permanent workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remote work\ncan be linked to considerable social and economic advantages. From a social standpoint,\nworking from home can open up employment opportunities for people with physical\ndisabilities that make it difficult to go to an office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, remote work might benefit parents who want or need to stay home with their children, as it makes easier for them to integrate careers into their family life. Since it is often women who take on this role, the implementation of remote work can lead to the promotion of employment among women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also,\nremote work increases employment opportunities for peripheral residents, who\nlive far away from urban centers and who struggle to commute on a daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Economically, remote work has the potential to save the employer costs on office space, electricity, cleaning expenses, transportation, and parking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly,\nthere is one advantage of remote work, which might exceed all the\naforementioned benefits in importance, as it affects not only every member of\nsociety but the environment as well: climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Utilizing remote\nwork as a policy tool could potentially reduce travel time (the total distance\ntraveled by motor vehicles) and road congestions. That is, employing workers in\nremote working conditions (regularly or a few days per week) can reduce\ngreenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, which contribute to climate change and\ncause morbidity and early mortality of over 2,000 people a year in Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Traveling in a private vehicle, particularly, in congested areas, produces many environmental damages,&#8221; explains Dr. Nivi Kessler, who was a fellow of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mimshak.org.il\/en\/\">Mimshak Science and Policy Fellowship Program<\/a> at the Ministry of Environmental Protection. &#8220;These damages are reflected in increased emissions of air pollutants. Roads are widened or new ones are paved, which in turn, results in the fragmentation and loss of open space and pollution of water sources.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jens-herrndorff-8osoVBQWWHc-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1875\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jens-herrndorff-8osoVBQWWHc-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jens-herrndorff-8osoVBQWWHc-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jens-herrndorff-8osoVBQWWHc-unsplash-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jens-herrndorff-8osoVBQWWHc-unsplash-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jens-herrndorff-8osoVBQWWHc-unsplash-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><em>According to recent estimates, Israelis will spend about 1.1 billion hours per year in traffic by 2030, resulting in an annual loss of about NIS 31 billion ($8.95 billion USD) each year. Photo by&nbsp;Jens Herrndorff&nbsp;on&nbsp;Unsplash<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>850\nmillion hours are wasted on the roads<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According\nto a state comptroller&#8217;s report released in March 2019, over the past 40 years,\nthe density of vehicular traffic in Israel has tripled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At present,\naccording to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and\nDevelopment (OECD), the traffic density on Israeli roads is 3.5 times higher\nthan the average in the other OECD member states &#8211; and in the coming years,\nthis situation is expected to only get worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According\nto the 2012 Strategic Plan for the Development of Public Transport in Israel by\nthe Ministry of Transport, by 2030, Israeli citizens will spend an estimated\ntotal of 850 million hours a year in traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This number\nis based on the expected population growth, which according to the CBS forecast,\nwill reach 11 million residents by 2030, along with the growing number of private\nvehicles being purchased and used, and the lack of sufficient investment in\npublic transport infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is\nestimated that wasted time in traffic will result in a loss of NIS 25 billion\n($7.2 billion USD) in GDP per year, partly due to a loss of working hours, fuel\nconsumption, air pollution, and accelerated road wear and tear. More recent\nestimates, with even more severe projections, predict that by 2030 Israelis will\nspend about 1.1 billion hours per year in traffic, resulting in an annual loss\nof about NIS 31 billion ($8.95 billion USD) each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To mitigate\nthe congestion problem, the Ministry of Transport has prepared strategic plans\nthat include building a Metro network and a light rail system in the Tel Aviv\nmetropolitan area as well as expanding the railway network across the country. However,\nthe Ministry estimates that these changes will help reduce only 12-16 percent\nof private car travel, compared to a target set by the government to reduce\nprivate travel by 20 percent by 2030. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Encouraging\nemployees to work remotely could potentially decrease the gap between the\ntarget set by the government and the actual expected reduction. By the very\nleast, working remotely has the potential to reduce the commute time in Israel,\nwhich would result in less traffic, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, noise\npollution, car accidents, and car wear and tear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While remote\nwork might have a positive effect on reducing traffic, according to the Expert\nCommittee report, remote work policies can also create new travel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Free time\nmanagement may encourage remote workers to use their private vehicles for\ndifferent needs, such as shopping or transporting children, although these are\nusually different time and distance journeys due to remote work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There\nis no consensus on the effectiveness of this congestion mitigation\nmeasure,&#8221; explains Dr. Edo Klein, who is a Fellow of the Science\nImplementation Program in the Government, at the Department of Transportation\nand Road Safety. &#8220;We end up living in a world of equilibrium. In the case\nof traffic, working remotely has the potential to clear the roads in the first\nphase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the\nsecond phase, however, people who avoid peak hour travel, or use public\ntransportation and carpooling may decide to move to a private vehicle due to\ntraffic congestion relief, thus creating a new equilibrium in the road system\nsimilar to the first-stage equilibrium.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nonetheless,\nthe overall effect of remote work is essentially positive, even in this extreme\nsituation where a new equilibrium and congestion will be created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remote work\nfrom local business centers can strengthen the outskirts of metropolitan areas;\nEmployees and employers, both, can benefit from this situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For commuting employees, less travel time would mean less stress and a reduction in travel expenses, which in turn, could result in increased job satisfaction and a higher ability to balance work and family life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Employers could benefit from operational cost savings and increased employee motivation and productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This ZAVIT article was also published in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/Israel-News\/Work-from-home-save-money-and-protect-the-environment-616328\">The Jerusalem Post<\/a>\u00a0on 02\/03\/2020.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, an expert report initiated by the Israeli Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences in collaboration with the Ministry of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":1873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,11,9],"tags":[],"acf":[],"post-meta-fields":{"_edit_lock":["1584862693:11"],"_oembed_9106f07cbf7054ba03f926a23685cb27":["<iframe title=\"Remote Work\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1zwsDbF6pbw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>"],"_oembed_time_9106f07cbf7054ba03f926a23685cb27":["1581499435"],"_thumbnail_id":["1873"],"_edit_last":["11"],"subtitle":["Working remotely from a neighborhood cafe or regional business center can help to reduce road congestion and pollutant emissions, as well as save billions of dollars that would have otherwise been lost to commuting"],"_subtitle":["field_59d3d36ea7fe1"],"_wpml_media_duplicate":["0"],"_wpml_media_featured":["0"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1872"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2057,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions\/2057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}