When it comes to the office, everyone is trying harder to be more eco friendly as we become increasingly more aware of climate change and how the world is changing around us. Being green at work is important for a few reasons: your employees will be happy about it, your customers will actively seek a company that cares about being eco friendly, you may save some money, and - most importantly of all - you’ll be doing your part to make the world a better place. Here are some tips on how you can make your business more green.
First of all, consider the commute that you and your employees take to work. If you live in an area where it’s necessary for everybody to drive, why not implement a car pool? This will mean that people can ride to work together, saving on gas costs and - of course - hurting the environment by burning more fossil fuels than you really need to. You could set up a bike hire scheme so that people are encouraged to cycle to work, and you could also do a season ticket loan so that people are able to purchase the cheapest tickets to use your public transport system. You could also consider more flexible working - if people can work at home and save the energy, time and expense of a commute, checking into the office electronically instead, this can work excellently to revitalise your business.
It’s important that you understand what you’re doing and why - sometimes people can be resistant to change in the workplace so having facts and figures to back yourself up is very important. Likewise, if you’re trying to persuade your boss to implement your green ideas, you need to have done your research first. Finally, make sure that you’re in line with whatever environmental concerns that your country has. Everywhere in the world is different - for instance, SECR regulations in the UK require you to report your energy usage in an attempt to lower carbon emissions.
Have you considered going paper free in your office? You need to make sure that you have recycle bins for any paper that does get used, but why not implement a policy that discourages people from printing things that they don’t need? Before a meeting, email the agenda to everyone so they can look at it on a tablet during the meeting instead of giving it out on paper. Your storage solutions - the cloud instead of filing cabinets - will also be much better.
And these days, it’s not just paper you can ditch. Do you have unusedPC parts, printers, or phone systems lying around in your stock rooms? Considerselling IT equipment to PCLiquidations to give them a second life and help theenvironment. Instead of waiting for them to become completely obsolete and turninto junk, unused hardware can be recycled or refurbished. You can get goodmoney for them, and PCLiquidations will even pay for shipping! And you don’thave to worry about compromising your privacy. They will do hard drive wipes,complete with photographic proof if needed, to ensure none of your dataremains. As a bonus, selling old stuff will also free up lots of physical spaceat your office
Take a look at your office and work out where exactly that energy comes from. If you don’t use any solar power then why not install solar panels on your roof? Talk to your electricity company and see whether you can use some wind and water power as well. These are naturally renewable sources that won’t do any danger to the world, and although there may be some expense as you switch over and install your solar panels, this will be set off later when your energy costs go down. You may even be able to sell some of that power back to the grid.
Going green will help you save money and the planet at the same time - it’s a win-win situation.
[Photo by bruce mars from Pexels]
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