Bayt.com online polls reveal high awareness of environmental issues among regional workers

The results showed that workers in the region are keen to play their part in protecting the environment, while many felt that more could be done by their companies to ensure this happens.

A total of 1,500 people participated in the poll, which was conducted on the Bayt.com homepage through September.

When asked if offices should go "carbon neutral", 49.6% of respondents agreed, stating, "Yes, it's time we did more to address global warming." Carbon neutral - a term which refers to people or organizations offsetting their carbon emissions by taking positive action, such as investing in ecological initiatives - elicited the response "I don't know what you're talking about" among 36.5% of those polled.

Encouragingly, almost 42% of respondents reported that their offices had gone "paper free," while 18.8% said they printed on both sides of the paper. Some 39.4% stated that "there are piles of paper on my desk."

Regulation of air conditioning was also a hot topic, with 69.3% of those polled believing that air conditioning usage should be regulated to save energy. Just 14.3% of those polled believed that unless staff benefit from the money saved, they didn't care.

"These results are generally encouraging, in that they show there is awareness in the workplace with regard to environmental issues," said Rabea Ataya, CEO, Bayt.com. "On the other hand, the poll also indicated that awareness doesn't always translate into concrete action. Certainly, employers could do more to create an environmentally-friendly workplace. And they should know that they will have the support of most employees if they do."