A number of small and medium-sized enterprises lack a clear direction when it comes to energy management.
That is according to a new survey by E.ON, which showed that many offices are missing out on crucial savings because employees and managers are increasingly 'passing the buck' when it comes to sustainability.
Just one in ten employees acknowledges ensuring workplace energy efficiency as their role and most SMEs have no guidelines on this matter at all.
The idea of 'passing the buck' was a recurring theme in the survey, which found many junior executives believing that the responsibility was that of the office manager, and a number of the office managers leaving the issue up to the owners or senior managers.
Overall, business owners and chief executives were most likely to accept this role, with 22 per cent believing it to be their job to ensure the workplace was energy efficient.
Worryingly however, almost a quarter of those polled admitted that they rarely thought about it, and a further 11 per cent said that they did nothing to improve office energy efficiency, showing that a lack of good role models Is a problem.
In contrast to the fact that only 28 per cent of respondents think about energy efficiency when in the office, a comparatively higher 55 per cent consider it regularly when they are at home.
Julian Morgan, managing director of the Energy Advice Line, commented: "Unfortunately, the survey shows that many business electricity don’t take energy as seriously as they should, and this is costing them money. It’s that simple.
"Many firms need to change their mindset and start treating energy like any other key business supply, rather than a secondary something they will get around to thinking about when they have time," he added.
Mr Morgan went on to note that many business owners would be "astonished" at the amount of money they could save if they simply paid more attention to energy use in the office.
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