With the trials and tribulations that humanity faced... was there a silver lining?

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Over the past two years of the pandemic, humanity has faced grueling trials and heart-wrenching hardships, including the spread of the virus to lockdown periods and the tragic lives lost in recent years.



Look at the skies over New Delhi, Mexico City, Wuhan, London, direct marketing with fantuan database Madrid and more as their air became smog-free.

Look out over the waters of Venice, as the sediment in the traffic-choked canals finally calms and clears.

During the lockdown, we saw a real-time case study of our impact on the environment. How we, as everyday commuters, energy users and air polluters, affect our planet… but also how we can help it.

While it depends on human nature, Harvard Business Review says that companies can take more steps through a WFH (Working from home) model to help nature. But first, let’s look at some of the statistics to better frame the environmental impacts.

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A look at resource depletion
Carbon and greenhouse gases
As a remote worker and telecommuter, it's obvious that making the morning and afternoon commute is practically non-existent. While you still have to drive to get errands done, not having to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours on end reduces the expense of not only time and money, but also your carbon footprint.

The logic may seem as easy as 1 + 1 = 2. No commuting + No moving vehicle = Less greenhouse gas emissions. But have you ever thought about expanding the actions of a single person to a global scale? Or even to your own country?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement in 2017 saying that 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. came from transportation, with a large portion accounting for the typical family/personal automobile.

To further emphasize the point, Digital Nomad explains that remote workers avoid emitting 3.6 million tons of the same gas each year and that if they wanted to make the same offset, they would need to plant 91 million trees.

Fossil fuels
Along with greenhouse gas emissions that come into play with commuting, it is also worth noting the use of fossil fuels. Households and businesses not only use fossil fuels for electricity and heat, but also for transport.

In pre-pandemic times in 2018, Statista estimated that around 97.2 million barrels of gasoline were consumed PER DAY. Each barrel holds approximately 20 gallons, so multiply that out and think of the nightmare at the gas pump.

After reflecting on that number, do a little mental exercise with me. Close your eyes and consider if only half of the companies that could work remotely did so.

Reduced energy consumption
But if everyone worked from home, wouldn't we be using an exorbitant amount of electricity? The short answer: possibly, but it depends on the population.

In a case study showing the positive effects of using solar energy, Sun Power provided these statistics for a typical home:

The average US home uses about 900 kWh per month.
That's 30 kWh per day
or 1.25 kWh per hour.
This is just an average for US households, not taking into account the over- or under-using people inside or outside this country.

But how much electricity does a company use?

Forbes says that large companies, offices, factories, etc. can use 100kWh... every half hour.

Si bien es difícil medir con precisión cuánta electricidad usa la fuerza de trabajo remota global en un día, la comparativa 1,25 kWh por hora de consumo promedio en los hogares con los 100 kWh cada media hora en las empresas nos muestra que, en definitiva, siempre será más beneficioso el trabajo desde casa.

¿Luces de la ciudad o noches estrelladas?
Algunos pueden migrar hacia una ciudad más grande con la esperanza de tener un acceso más fácil a los trabajos. Otros, al contrario, pueden mudarse a otra zona dentro de la misma ciudad para reducir su tiempo de viaje, intercambiando el costo de la gasolina por un costo de alquiler más alto.

Es fácil ver cómo trabajar de forma remota puede resolver estos dos problemas de una sola vez.

Según la Oficina del Censo de EE., aproximadamente el 80% de los estadounidenses vive en áreas urbanas. Pero en un estudio reciente, parece que muchos no lo están haciendo por convicción. En una encuesta realizada por CBS, el 38% de los residentes de la ciudad preferiría vivir en áreas más rurales.

Honestamente, no puedo culparlos. Hay mucho menos ruido y contaminación lumínica, mejor calidad del aire, sin mencionar los gastos de vida marginalmente más bajos.

Trabajar de forma remota elimina las limitaciones que suelen tener las grandes áreas metropolitanas en lo que respecta a las oportunidades laborales y los factores financieros y ambientales vinculados a una oficina física.

Trabajo remoto para mejorar
El impacto que los trabajadores remotos pueden tener en el medio ambiente solo puede ser tan útil como relevante para el empleado. Pero los que pueden inclinar la balanza a favor de las iniciativas medioambientales son los propios empresarios.

Harvard Business Review describe esto en tres simples consideraciones:

Incorpora una cultura de sustentabilidad: reitera de manera rutinaria las iniciativas de sustentabilidad de tu empresa en toda la organización
Proporciona políticas de apoyo: alienta y apoya a los empleados que utilizan fuentes de energía renovable e iniciativas ambientales activas
Piensa globalmente, actúa localmente: ingresa a la comunidad y practica la divulgación ambiental que refleje la imagen de tu empresa
Los beneficios de estas prácticas son muchos. Una empresa puede convertirse en líder en iniciativas ambientales y de sostenibilidad, fomentando una cultura que haga que las personas no solo quieran trabajar para ellos sino con ellos. Por encima de todo, no solo se ve bien para la empresa, sino que es lo correcto.

En 2020, Rock Content pasó de ser una empresa centrada en la oficina a una organización centrada en lo remoto, con cientos de Rockers (¡así llamamos a todos los compañeros de trabajo!) que trabajan en todo el mundo.

Rock Content 's decision was made based on the idea that the future of work is remote, not only for a diverse and globally integrated workforce, but for the betterment of the planet.

Employees receive a monthly remote work allowance, which covers the cost of an individual’s electricity usage. By setting our own work schedule, we are encouraged to unplug, turn off the workstation, and get some fresh air.

As a people-driven, collaborative, startup, Rock Content is always open to evolving its practices, finding ways to engage employees, and promoting healthy environmental practices around the world. Whether it’s turning off devices in your home or cleaning up and serving your community, Rock’s leadership inspires its employees to “ think globally, act locally ” to make the world a better place.