Green Tips for Business Employees
While modeling a green mindset is crucial for the overall company, it’s just as important — if not more important — for your company’s employees to be invested in the green initiative. This means creating a company culture that prioritizes being environmentally friendly by exercising mindfulness, new habits, and more.
Give your employees a reason to get behind your company’s green mission. Offer incentives to meet energy consumption or recycling goals, and share insights into your company’s shrinking carbon footprint.
In some cases, these green tips for business employees can also cut down on energy costs and waste while improving company morale. Check out the green tips below to see if they will fit your company’s office space.
Encourage Employee Participation
An eco-friendly office begins with the participation of employees. If everyone is dedicated to a green mindset, it’ll be easier to implement thoughtful strategies for reducing waste and improving efficiency. Some businesses get creative with the idea: starting a green team to spearhead team-building activities, lunch-and-learn sessions, green initiatives, and friendly competitions.
Purchase Energy-Efficient Appliances & Green Cleaning Supplies
Outfitting the office with energy-efficient appliances and green cleaning supplies is an understated way to further anchor the company to a green mindset. Another benefit of making these choices for the office is that employees may be more likely to purchase these items for their own homes as well.
Stop Printing Documents
Rather than printing papers, reports, or information, read the documents on your computer or tablet. For meetings, make the information widely available via your company’s drive or through a link shared beforehand. Encourage employees to take notes via a tablet, phone, or laptop.
Shut Your Technology Off for the Night
To improve the energy use of your computer, check your energy-saving options and implement the ones that make the most sense for your work. Meanwhile, practice turning off your technology if you’re away from your desk for an extended period of time or overnight. An easy way to do this is to plug all your technology into a power strip and to switch it off at the end of the day. This saves not only energy but money too.
Power Off Wireless Technology
Don’t forget to switch off your wireless mouse or keyboard. While these can be easy to forget, switching them off will help extend their battery life. This saves money and batteries—and means fewer batteries in the landfill!
Provide Office Utensils in the Break Room
When the break room includes metal utensils, plates, and a dishwasher, your employees won’t be dependent on plasticware for their eating needs. This will also encourage employees to pack food, saving money and takeout waste.
Encourage Reusable Containers, Mugs, and Water Bottles
Reusable containers are a one-time financial investment that can be used throughout the year to carry snacks, meals, and desserts to work. Not only do reusable containers cut down on paper, aluminum, and plastic waste, they also mean you don’t need to be constantly purchasing more disposable products.
Recycle, Recycle, Recycle
Your office can prioritize recycling by sorting recyclables and ensuring that they are transferred to the appropriate center. Label bins for each type of recycling and schedule a drop-off time for those recyclables. Your office could even go above and beyond by allowing employees to bring in their recyclables right before the scheduled drop-off to the recycling center.
Offer Work-From-Home
Another way that your company can cut down on energy use and waste is to allow employees to work from home. While this may not work for every business or employee, it’s an option that can help save money on transportation and reduce greenhouse gas production.
Suggest Alternate Transportation
While many employees probably drive a car to work, it may be possible for some employees to carpool together to save on gas usage. Public transportation may be a viable option. And in some cases, biking to work may be a good transportation option that cuts down on greenhouse gases and provides some extra exercise.
Creating a green company culture is beneficial not only to your company’s agenda and initiative to being more globally-minded, but it can have the short-term benefit of cutting costs as well. Encouraging employees to find new ways to implement eco-friendly practices into the office work-life ensures that your employees are invested in caring for the planet.