Office environmental initiatives towards reducing their impact on the environment play an essential role in the sustainability of a positive impact. It all starts by making sure that the company has an environmentally-friendly mission statement. The statement must reflect a commitment to stewardship on a specific environmental impact.
Establish a Recycling Program
Implement a recycling program, from the kitchen to the workplaces. Educate and engage your employees on responsible waste disposal. Set up clear signage for each waste on each designated waste station. An added visual element like stapling sample items to show which bin it should go into will help staff to sort things properly.
Conserve Energy
Replace fluorescent lights with LEDs and ensure they are turned off during off-hours. Enable power-saving features like sleep mode on computers and other devices. Use smart power strips to shut down other devices connected to the original equipment when it is turned off. All these will help save energy without relying on the staff’s remembrance to turn everything off.
Promote an Eco-friendly Office
At the end of every day, almost half of the printed papers end up in the trash. Where printing is necessary, set your printer to print both sides of the paper, which will automatically cut paper usage. Utilise the use of digital and cloud computing solutions such as HR and payroll digital software to manage human resources. Swapping paper and ink with digital software is an eco-conservative initiative.
Green Your Supply Chain
Go green by opting to do business with green-friendly companies. Screen your suppliers to make sure they align with your business values on positive environmental impacts. Have laid down guidelines on what you can purchase and what you can’t. It will ensure sustainability, even if you have a turnover in procurement staff. Choose to work with products with green business certifications over non-certified ones.
Reduce By Reusing
Replace disposable products with reusable ones, especially in the staff kitchen. Encourage the use of reusable plates, cups, mugs, and other utensils. It is estimated that an average person working in the office uses about 500 disposable cups in a year. Discourage this wasteful habit by promoting the use of reusable items or offering company merchandised items like travel mugs and stainless steel water bottles.
Invest in Office Plants
Did you know that placing plants around the office can increase productivity? Plants will beautify and uplift the atmosphere of your workplace. As a result, it will reduce stress and anxiety for your staff. Indoor plants use harmful pollutants like carbon dioxide for their photosynthesis, reducing toxins and indoor air pollutants. The indoor greenery has a health benefit in that it releases oxygen to the atmosphere, thereby boosting a healthy working environment for employees.
Conserve Human Energy
When considering environmental practices, provide training to your employees. Help employees to understand the company values and sustainability initiatives. For companies to increase their employees’ productivity, they need to facilitate a safe, non-toxic environment at all times. The company will benefit from happy, healthy, and energetic employees. The productive workforce can be sustained by providing nutrition options such as organic fruits and vegetables.
Reduce Carbon Footprint
The company can support its staff in taking alternative modes of transportation. During work-week, encourage employees to walk, use a bike, electric car, or carpooling with colleagues. Occasionally, the company can allow employees to do remote work from home. The use of innovative workflow tools like instant messages and video conferencing can make it even easier to work from home. Companies can set up bike racks for staff and clients and extra bike locks in case someone forgot theirs.