A new study shows the best thing we can do for Earth Day (April 22) is actually work from home.

That’s because office workers don’t care about the environment at work like they do at home.

TeamViewer reveals the results of their Telecommuting for Earth Day survey of 500 office workers that shows the actions people take at home that they don’t bother with at work, including:

• Turn lights off when not in a room – 74 per cent
• Make their own lunch – 60 per cent
• Print minimal amounts of paper – 53 per cent
• Power down computer at night – 50 per cent
• Recycle – 39 per cent
• Avoid bottled water – 34 per cent

And surprising numbers of bosses now say it’s the environment that causes them to say yes to telecommuting:

• 42 per cent say environmental concerns weigh strongly or very strongly
• 62 per cent say the environment at least somewhat strongly influences the decision

Nearly all employees (97 per cent) say they use fewer resources when working from home, including gas (86 per cent), printer paper (31 per cent), electricity, markers & pencils (15 per cent), shower water (13 per cent) and even pain pills (12 per cent).

This is important because the US Environment Protection Agency says office workers waste about 71 million tons of paper each year and more than half of the survey respondents said they print more than 20 pages per day, and a further 20 per cent say it’s more than 50.

For more information about Earth Day, visit earthday.ca.