By now, going green has proven to be more than just a passing fad. Itâs how many businesses are improving the energy efficiency of the buildings they work in, the sustainability of the products they produce and reducing their overall carbon footprint on the earth.
Itâs been shown that going green at work helps businesses not only save money on their monthly electric bill, but also has them looking more appealing in the eye of consumers.
The energy used in commercial buildings and manufacturing plants accounts for almost half of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 50 percent of energy consumption nationwide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Because itâs where most Americans spend the majority of their day, the workplace where we can make the biggest impact by going green. Training employees to reduce office waste and conserve energy can take time, but the payoff is worth it.
Get everyone in your organization on-board and involved in a green movement to save the company money and save the earthâs natural resources by following these six steps:
Set up green teams. Gather employees form different levels and departments within the organization to lead your program. Forming a diverse team with employees from all levels will ensure greater support and success of your program overall. Organize green team meetings. Set up a regular time each week or month where your green team can get together and discuss new projects. Identify areas within the business that are the least efficient and brainstorm what could be done to improve it. Raise awareness. Send emails, hand out fliers and hang posters with information on how the business is going green and how every employee can get involved. Encourage employees to share their green ideas with the green team member in their department. Hold an event. Get employees involved and informed by holding a green event in the office. From brown bag lunches to outdoor picnics, find a way to get everyone excited and aware of the organizations new green efforts. If possible, invite a green expert to come in and talk about ways to save energy around the office. Make it fun. Find ways to make your green movement fun by making it competitive. Divide employees by department or team and start a competition to see who can be the most green around the office. Competitions can range from collecting the most soda cans to conserving the most printer paper, get creative with it. Reward their efforts. After each competition, hand out environmentally-friendly prizes such as reusable water bottles or coffee mugs to the teams that show the greatest improvement. Publicly recognize teams and individual employees who have gone above and beyond to go green at work.
Going green in the office doesnât have to be something that takes up a lot of time or effort. With the support of upper management, starting a green movement in your organization can be fun and help the company save money.
Employee training and overall human resource enthusiast, who strives to learn creative tricks of the trade everyday. Writer and frequent contributor to the
TrainingTime Learning Library and other article resources. Hoping to learn new ideas and share some of my own knowledge.
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