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Offices need to raise the bar and become more environmentally-friendly, complain employees

Didong Zhao
August 26th, 2022


This article is more than 2 years old.

Nearly two-thirds say they have had to implement measures themselves

A green office is important (photo: Mr Heisenberg)

As more workers return to their office following the pandemic, there has been a marked increase in what people expect in terms of workplace sustainability, reports Kompas Kommunikation.

According to a new study conducted by Tork Eco Office on behalf of the global health company Essity, 54 percent of office workers in Denmark are more conscious of their work environment and around a half are disappointed that their employers did nothing to improve it during the pandemic.

The survey is based on responses from 12,000 office workers in Denmark and six other European countries.

It also revealed that 91 percent of the Danes surveyed would like to have a more environmentally friendly office.

Taking environmental measures into their own hands
The survey revealed that 61 percent of people in Denmark have already tried to implement greener practices in their offices themselves, as their bosses don’t seem to care about the planet.

Topics such as recycling and reducing waste (like printing paper and paper towels), reducing energy consumption (such as solar cells on the roof) and better internal communication on sustainability are top priorities for employees that companies can address.

“There has been a noticeable shift in our overall attitude over the last 18 months as employees are taking sustainability more seriously than ever before,” said Maria Frommelt, the customer success manager at Tork PaperCircle, who advises employers to actively communicate with their employees on the topic.

“There are clear expectations and requirements for an environmentally-friendly office, but not all employers take the issue seriously.”


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”