Welcome to part sixteen of our blog series on Going Green, dedicated to helping attorneys practice law in a more environmentally friendly way.  Last week we discussed how you can change your news consumption habits to be more efficient.  This week we will turn the focus back on employee incentives as they have to do with travel.

In part 14, we discussed the need for employers to incentivize their employees to work from home by making it easier to do so.  Ideas included an allowance for laptops, building an easy to use network that all employees have remote access to, and training sessions on how to set up various tools to work from the road.

Sometimes, working remotely and working from home is not an option.  Sometimes, you have no choice but to be in the office.  And that is fine, as long as you are getting there the right way.  In part 4 of this series, we discussed the need to “Travel Together, and Travel Less”.  For employers, it’s time to start incentivizing your lawyers and support staff to travel smarter.

There are a number of ways to travel smarter.  You can take public transportation, when available.  You can drive a hybrid or electric vehicle that is more efficient and less harmful to the environment.  And you can travel with friends and co-workers to cut down on the number of cars on the road.

Employers can use money or other perks to get your employees to think about these alternative methods of travel.  Offer to pay for bus and train tickets for those employees that go with public transportation.  Offer a partial allowance for all hybrid vehicle purchases by your employees.  Or come up with a bonus structure for people that carpool or rideshare to work.

Sometimes that is all it will take to get people to start thinking about the way they travel.  And as more and more people travel to and from work in more efficient ways, we will begin to solve many problems associated with CO2 emissions and congestion.

Past Installments in this Series
Part One – An Introduction to Going Green
Part Two – Cut Electricity Costs, Just Flip the Switch
Part Three – Forget Paper, Go Digital
Part Four – Travel Together, Travel Less
Part Five – We Recycle
Part Six – Natural Lighting
Part Seven – Know Your Gadgets
Part Eight – Setting Goals
Part Nine – Reusable Bottles and Mugs
Part Ten - Setting Employee Incentives
Part Eleven - Green Products for You
Part Twelve – Greening Your Mail
Part Thirteen – Representing Green Clients
Part Fourteen – Incentives to Work Remotely
Part Fifteen – Greener News Alternatives