Colleagues at UHMBT are being asked to think of ways to reduce travel costs as part of the War on Waste (WOW) campaign.
Everyone is encouraged to consider alternatives to travel, where possible, in a bid to help the Trust to save £22million this year.
In 2018/19 employees travelled a total of 3,849,824 business miles as part of their duties at UHMBT – this equates to 155 trips around the Earth.
Although travel is often a necessity, there are opportunities to explore alternatives such as using video conferencing, phone conferencing or sharing cars.
The other main aims of the WOW travel campaign are to reduce the Trust’s environmental footprint and improve the work/personal life balance for members of staff.
The following acronym is being promoted through the campaign:
T ravel only when essential/unavoidable
R educe face-to-face meetings where appropriate
A lternatives to travel – use available phone call/Webex/video conferencing facilities
V isit one trust site per day, using hot desk facilities to minimise travel during the working day
E co friendly options – use public transport or car share to reduce co2 and environmental impact the trust has on the beautiful locality of the Bay
L ink in with colleagues collaboratively, seeking to diarise face to face meetings where the least amount of travel is necessary for all attendees
Other options available to staff include using iPhone Facetime and Skype for one-to-one meetings (for people who have a Trust mobile) and using Webex (guide here) or the new Office 365 platform which will bring additional functionality once rolled out.
Standard Cisco IP desk phones also have a conferencing facility (for up to 4 people including the call originator), which can be accessed by pushing the ‘Confrn’ button during a connected call and entering the number of the person you wish to add to the conversation and pushing ‘Confrn’ again to confirm.
The travel campaign will also encourage car sharing, the use of on-site venues instead of booking off-site venues for meetings and events and greater use of public transport.
David Wilkinson, Director of People and Occupational Development for the Trust, said: “We are fully committed to reducing the amount of money the Trust is spending on travel.
“We are not saying don’t travel but we are asking everyone to think about whether they always need to travel and if they can use an alternative means of communication for meetings.
“Training is available for colleagues who might not know how to use the technology like Webex or video conferencing.
“All of the funds we save on travel will help us to reach this year’s target of £22 million in budget savings and we are grateful for everyone’s support with this.
“By cutting down on travel, there will also be environmental benefits and it will potentially be less stressful for colleagues as people won’t have to travel long distances to meetings as often, and not have to worry about being able to park.”
If UHMBT colleagues have any ideas on how to cut down on travel costs, please share your thoughts with the WOW campaign by visiting the WOW intranet page.