Study shows large employers could save billions by reassessing staff behaviour
London, 11 July, 2012 – CloudApps, the enterprise application leader in sustainability, today announced the striking results of in-depth research into the Recurring Investment Costs per Employee (RICE) for UK businesses, based on the governments own statistics.
According to Economist figures the UK achieved 0% GDP growth so far this year (the US 2.1% and China 8.1%) and with unemployment in some European countries still very high, research from CloudApps shows that UK Businesses could save the economy billions, stimulating growth and innovation simply by cutting the hidden energy & business travel costs of employees.
Using data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), CloudApps has calculated that UK businesses face an average additional bill of £4000 per employee on top of salary, benefits and taxes. These hidden costs, made up of energy to power, light, heat and cool workplaces and unrecoverable travel & expenses, equate to about a quarter of the average wage. With a working population of 22.6 million the total of these hidden costs is 0.7% of GDP.
Evidence from CloudApps’ own customers show that using its software companies can save themselves at least nine per cent on travel and ten per cent on energy, if replicated on a UK-wide basis, this could save UK employers some £1.47 billion. Based on the NHS Hospital Estates and Facilities 2010/2011 report (found here), a ten per cent saving could be possible on the NHS’ £550 million energy bill, the equivalent of over 2000 extra nurses.
Peter Grant, CEO, CloudApps said “The NHS employs more than 1.7 million people, plagued with complaints of underpaid staff and staff shortages, the £55 million saved in energy could go a long way. And this is just one portion of the total saving available to the UK economy, in total over £1.47 billion is wasted by UK PLC on travel expenses and energy costs which can be considered purely wasteful.”
The RICE Index highlights an untapped resource to UK businesses who are struggling to remain competitive in a global market, green is more than the right thing to do but the sensible thing to do. It will be released annually to document the rising cost of energy, energy usage and business attitudes to travel and will be used as a benchmark to track the UK’s success or failure in meeting the tough Carbon commitments made by the Government.
To download the full RICE Index please go to http://www.cloudapps.com/rice-index-whitepaper/
