Are You in a Green Team?
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Are you looking for more ways to be environmentally friendly? Do you currently work in an office without a green initiative? Big companies are becoming more and more environmentally responsible, particularly as this is something consumers are seeking out. But what is going on behind the scenes?
To make a difference, we all need to work together, and here are a few ways you can encourage your office to go green.
Go Paperless
This might not be entirely achievable, depending on the nature of your business, but in every situation where you are currently printing or using paper, it’s worth thinking – is this 100% necessary? A lot of paper gets wasted in office and, although often recycled, it’s better to avoid using – and wasting – it in the first place. You can send things that would usually be printed via email and use online forms and file-sharing sites to cut down.
Get a Desk Plant
We all know that plants and trees are air purifying, so why not bring a little greenery into the office? Not only will they clean the air, but a few desk plants dotted about make for a more cheerful office atmosphere.
Digitalize
The more you can work and train away from handouts and textbooks, the better for the environment. You will be able to find a corporate training platform that can provide you with the training and development you are looking for in your team in a wholly paperless way.
Turn it Down
We know offices are never the right temperature. You feel like either someone from accounts is always opening the window, or else it’s HR cranking up the thermostat as high as it will go. Although you won’t be able to work in an office that is completely unbearable temperature-wise, try going down a few degrees at a time. Get everyone prepared so they can bring in jumpers if it’s winter and invest in some communal hot drinks to keep the cold at-bat.
Have a Monthly Challenge
One of the best ways to motivate your members of staff is to introduce a little friendly competition. Discuss a monthly challenge that you can take on as a team. You could all decide to give up plastic water bottles, or disposable coffee cups. How about everyone commits to turning off their PCs before heading out the door? You could even go as far as to get sponsorship for it and donate the proceeds to an environmental charity.
Work from Home
Sounds too good to be true, right? But if everyone in the office worked from home one day per week, that gets rid of the carbon travel footprint for an entire team of people. You can use Skype for meetings, which is becoming a much more standard way of conducting chats with employees who work remotely.
These are just a few ways you can reduce your impact on our planet in the office and start to work together as a team to recycle and look after the environment.