Less is more - reducing business mileage
Every year, Kiwi workers drive millions of kilometres on business and use an excessive amount of fuel - but can they honestly say every kilometre was necessary?

This is a question every business should ask itself now that fuel is predicted to continue to rise for years to come. It can be incredibly difficult to tackle company culture, where face-to-face meetings are considered the most important aspect of securing and keeping business contracts. However, this assumption is being challenged by an increasing number of companies that realise that the greenest mile is the one that isn?t travelled. There will always be a place for face-to-face meetings to ensure a successful start to a business relationship, but that meeting could also be used to secure support for an environmental approach to undertaking business in the future. So what alternatives can a company consider to reduce its mileage, protect the environment and send a green message to its customers?
The UK based Energy Saving Trust provides some practical advice for cutting business milage.

Telephone
A simple telephone conference in place of a face-to-face meeting saves both time and money. Not only do companies avoid 'dead-time' in the car driving to and from meetings, phone conferences also tend to be less prone to off-topic conversations, so meetings are more efficient. Replacing just a few face-to-face catch-up meetings with phone conferences can significantly reduce business mileage and free up hours of staff time.

Video conferencing
Video conferencing allows people in different locations to have a face-to-face meeting. Particularly useful for larger meetings when it can provide the basis for a more coherent discussion, this can often prove difficult with telephone conferencing. Furthermore it can be a more personal way of doing business. Modern systems can allow several delegates to patch into the same video conference at the same time, with a moderator managing the system.

Public transport
Public transport is increasingly becoming a more cost effective way of travelling given recent increases in fuel prices. Employees can enjoy the benefits of millions of pounds worth of investment in transport over the past few years, with electronic timetables, regular, reliable services and a clean environment. Whilst some modes of public transport even give employees a chance to work for a subsequent meeting or day in the office.

Flexible working
The concept of flexible working has gradually become part of everyday business life and has been endorsed by the Government, which will shortly consult on moves to extend existing flexible working rights to more of the workforce. One of the by-products of flexible working, alongside less stress, lower staff turnover and less absenteeism, is less traffic and therefore less pollution as the daily journey to and from work is broken. Whilst effective diary planning can also reduce the number of journeys an employee makes. Planning meetings with different businesses to coincide with each other is a good way to work smarter, more efficiently and reduce ?dead time? getting to and from meetings.

Car sharing
Try to avoid several people from the same area travelling to work or a meeting in separate vehicles. As well as fuel savings, it can give employees an opportunity to discuss work related topics, in a less formal environment.