In 2024, environmental concerns have once again been at the forefront of business operations across the UK. As the race towards achieving net zero intensives and a new Labour government promising to “make Britain a clean energy superpower” takes shape, companies face increasing pressure from governments, consumers and investors to reduce carbon footprints.
Therefore, the spotlight is on housing associations to ensure their field service management processes adapt to this shift to more sustainable best practices. By embracing advanced technologies, such as electric vehicles, digital solutions and real-time communication systems, they can leverage these tools to streamline operations and contribute to a greener landscape.
Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference next month, we revisit how housing associations can take important action to minimise the carbon footprint of their field service workers in 2025 and beyond.
Focusing on efficiency, sustainable practices and technology adoption, let’s take a closer, updated look at how housing associations can improve the way essential maintenance and repairs services are delivered.
Here are the key strategies they can implement:
- Optimised real-time global workforce dynamic scheduling and routing
Housing associations should look to leverage technology that assigns jobs based on real-time factors, such as location, worker availability and the minimum of travel. Optimising routes for field service workers helps reduce unnecessary travel and fuel consumption. This ensures jobs are more efficient while minimising the environmental impact.
- Optimise workers into localised hubs
Grouping field service workers based on the location of their homes helps to reduce long commutes and lower fuel use. It can also improve response times, as operatives can reach job locations quicker and will be more familiar with the area.
- Reduce repeat visits to properties
Ensuring tenants are at home for scheduled visits with proactive automated messaging reduces the need for multiple trips. Improving communication methods with tenants should not only eliminate wasted visits but also improve customer satisfaction.
- Remove the need to visit the depot for materials
Introducing flexibility for materials provision and management will help minimise the need for travel to depots, such as delivering directly to worksites or using self-service options from suppliers like Travis Perkins or Wolseley. This will improve job completion times and overall sustainability.
- Source sustainable and eco-friendly parts
Housing associations can reduce the environmental impact of repairs by choosing sustainable materials and incorporating eco-friendly products into their supply chains. A “green score” could even be introduced against stock held on vans and in depots to further prioritise more sustainable options.
- Allow field service operatives to complete their work without depot visits
Ensuring workers can handle all of their duties and administrative tasks in the field, such as booking holidays or requesting time off, reduces the need to visit depots or head offices. This will cut down on carbon emissions and increase overall efficiency, making field service teams more productive.
- Implement preventative and predictive maintenance tools
This helps to identify and address issues before they escalate into major repairs. Reducing emergency callouts and reactive jobs will limit the amount of operational disruption caused by these work requests and eliminate unplanned travel.
- Consolidate jobs into multi-task repair plans
Rather than dispatching workers for individual small repairs, a more efficient approach involves grouping multiple tasks for the same tenant or property in a single visit. This consolidated approach reduces the number of trips and optimises the use of resources.
- Introduce video diagnostics and remote self-help
Empowering tenants with technology for video diagnostics and self-help tools means some issues can be resolved remotely, without the need for a field service operative to visit the property.
- Transition to electric vehicles
Switching to electric vehicles (EVs) from traditional fossil fuel-powered vans will significantly reduce a housing association’s carbon footprint. Producing zero emissions, a fleet of electric vehicles helps to demonstrate an organisation’s desire to be more environmentally conscious.
- Promote sustainable driving practices
Promoting eco-friendly driving habits will help field workers reduce idling, maintain consistent speeds and use pre-planned fuel-efficient routes. Providing training on these best practices and monitoring driving habits will help to reduce emissions and operational costs.
- Utilise green energy for depots
Using renewable energy sources at depots, such as solar panels or wind turbines, will help to lower a housing association’s environmental impact. Switching to green energy reduces an organisation’s over-reliance on fossil fuels, ensuring operations are cleaner and greener.
- Digitise paper-based processes
Finally, an oldie but a goodie is moving away from paper-based systems and adopting digital tools. Paper waste can be drastically reduced by leveraging technology to manage work orders, invoices and reports. It also reduces the unnecessary amount of paperwork lying around and makes document management more efficient.
How can ROCC help?
Would you like to reduce your field service workers’ carbon footprint but feel a bit overwhelmed about getting started? Fortunately, ROCC is on hand to support your switch to adopting more sustainable practices.
For a housing software provider that has your best interests at heart and champions environmentally-friendly ways of working, we are hard to beat. We want to partner with you to tackle big environmental challenges and ensure your competitors don’t leave you behind.
Find out how our repairs and maintenance software can help to revolutionise your housing association and make your field-based operations more sustainable.
Get in touch with a friendly member of our customer service team today.
