Results of a North American survey released today by Xerox Corporation
to measure environmental consciousness in the workplace, found that work colleagues
may have some strong objections to those who don't walk-the-green-talk at the
office.
Almost 40 percent of U.S. respondents said their number one
office environmental pet peeve was mindless printing resulting in abandoned
pages at the printer, followed closely by leaving the lights on in unused offices
(37 percent).
A review of the other top office pet peeves included: lack of
recycling bins (33 percent); excessive air conditioning or heating (29 percent);
excessive use of paper products - like plates and cups (27 percent); coworkers
who don't recycle (27 percent) and coworkers who print single-sided instead
of double-sided documents (24 percent).
"As we talk with our customers, we often find that environmental
consciousness is left in the recycling bin that sits in employees' garages.
While they're eco-friendly at home, the office is still breeding ground for
bad habits," said Patricia A. Calkins, vice president of Environment, Health
and Safety at Xerox. "Yet, as this survey found, it takes a few small steps
to make a big difference. Step number one: use the technology available in the
office to cut back on paper use, reduce waste and reduce energy consumption.
That can mean simply setting the office printers to default to two-sided printing,
which cuts office paper use in half. Or, replace single function printers and
copiers with multifunction systems, decreasing energy use."
Gender and generations
The survey, which polled 1,569 office workers across the U.S. and Canada, revealed
that U.S. women (91 percent) consider themselves more eco-conscious than their
male counterparts (86 percent). Age had a noticeable effect on environmental
consciousness too. Of U.S. workers aged 18-34, 27 percent ranked themselves
as "extremely" or "very green" versus the next generation
of employees aged 35-44 (17 percent).
The Full List
The top ten environmental pet peeves among U.S. office workers:
1. Mindless printing resulting in increased waste (40%)
2. Leaving lights on (37%)
3. Lack of recycling bins (33%)
4. Excessive air conditioning in summer and heat in winter (29%)
5. Excessive use of paper products, like cups, plates, etc. (27%)
6. Coworkers not recycling (27%)
7. Coworkers not printing double-sided when they can (24%)
8. Too many cover sheets when faxing or printing (24%)
9. Having to store paper copies of existing, electronic files (24%)
10. Leaving computer on and not powering down when going home (23%)
For smarter ways to 'green' an office of any size, visit www.xerox.com/environment.
About the survey
Harris Interactive conducted the survey of 1,569 adults aged 18+ working in
offices in Canada and the United States from March 4 - March 9, 2008 on behalf
of Xerox Corporation. Respondents were asked to rate their environmental consciousness
and select which common office practices with negative environmental impact
bothered them. The U.S. data were collected online and were weighted to be representative
of the U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education,
annual household income, race/ethnicity and propensity to be online.
About Xerox Corporation
Xerox Corporation is the world's leading document management enterprise, providing
the industry's broadest portfolio of color and black-and-white document processing
systems and related supplies as well as document management consulting and outsourcing
services to businesses of any size.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long
and rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science and technology,
we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients
globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network
of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
Note: For more information on Xerox, visit http://www.xerox.com
or http://www.xerox.com/news. For open commentary and industry perspectives
visit www.xerox.com/blogs
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