Popular opinion: Work from home works for air

Popular opinion: Work from home works for air

Ritam.Halder@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:26.05.2020

More than 80% of urban professionals feel that work from home (WFH) will help in reducing air pollution in their cities.

In addition to the environmental benefit associated with WFH, people also recognise practical benefits such as saving money and time and 72% want to continue working from home post-lockdown.

These were revealed by a public perception survey across 10 Indian cities — Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune and Surat — to analyse the emerging trends from the lockdown and the steps citizens are willing to take to maintain the inadvertent gains from the lockdown, in the form of clean air, clean cities, less traffic and the co-benefits of health.

However, half of the surveyed individuals identify lack of proper infrastructure at home, irregular routine schedule and reduction in team bonding as their top struggles, the survey conducted by Climate Trends and global market research firm, YouGov, has revealed.

“Despite challenges, majority of them are willing to continue working from home even after the lockdown is lifted. This willingness might be good news for employers who also see benefits of WFH — 9 out of 10 think that their company saved on operational expense on account of WFH. This is, perhaps, why they are willing to encourage their employees to WFH if proper work infrastructure is in place, and productivity is maintained,” it said.

According to the survey, which was conducted online because of the complete lockdown with a sample size of 1,082 urban professional respondents from across 10 largest cities in terms of population, 72% said they are willing to continue WFH even after the lockdown ends.

Also, one in 2 respondents indicated that they suffer from air pollution-related health problems like respiratory, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. “This explains why individuals are willing to take steps to maintain this unintended reduction in air pollution triggered by the Covid-19 lockdown.” Close to 49% of the respondents said they will be willing to buy an electric vehicle provided the charging infrastructure is in place across the country and the prices are made affordable. The percentage in favour of electric vehicles increased in some cities such as Jaipur (62%) and Delhi (56%).

Jasmine Shah, vice-chairperson, Dialogue and Development Commission, Delhi government, while speaking at the webinar during the launch of the report on Monday, said the reduction of air pollution in the lockdown has shown the importance of tackling emissions at source.

4 9  % PEOPLE SAID YES TO USING ELECTRIC VEHICLES