Five Sustainable Business Practices to Implement This Year
By Cora Gold
As a business owner or employer, you set the tone for your company, clients and employees’ impact, especially regarding your environmental impact. Businesses contribute significantly to carbon emissions and pollution, but they can also make a positive impact. By implementing eco-friendly initiatives within the workplace, you can do your part in protecting the environment. Here are five sustainable practices to implement in your business this year.
Why Care About Sustainability in the Workplace?
Sustainability is a strategy to reduce the waste of environmental resources necessary for future generations. As a business, you can encourage change by inspiring employees and their families to implement eco-conscious initiatives inside and outside the workplace.
By implementing sustainability within your organization, you can show current and future clients you want to make a difference locally and globally. Today, many consumers value brands that strive to make a difference on all levels and want to invest in those with the same values. In a 2022 IBM survey, 59% of consumers were willing to pay premium rates for sustainable products or services from enterprises that support environmental change.
Sustainable Business Practices
Standard practices will help employees understand the importance of going green. As you implement these practices in the workplace, collecting data and modifying these systems is vital to ensure success.
Implement Workplace Sustainability Policies
As with any new regulations, it’s essential to outline your sustainability policy with relevant information and obtainable solutions. As you brainstorm, it’s vital to include the following:
> A vision statement
> A mission statement
> The definition of sustainability to you and your employees
> A brief overview of why you’re implementing this strategy
> The objectives and targets you want to achieve
> A tangible strategy to achieve your mission and vision
> A commitment to work towards the goals and objectives of the policy
As you plan ways to achieve your aims, a vision board can help your staff visualize the roadmap to achieving this goal, and ensure your new sustainability policy is understandable and accessible.
One place to start is to look at your daily office habits. Ditch the disposable cups at the water cooler and encourage employees to bring refillable bottles. Choose cleaning products that are free of dyes, phosphates, petroleum and other chemicals that pollute the air and waterways. Switch from plastic packaging to recyclable materials for the products you sell. Every small change makes a difference.
Inform and Reward Employees
Your staff may already do their part to achieve a sustainable environment through green transportation or regular volunteering. However, others within the workplace may need help understanding where to start. Training your workers on what eco-friendliness is and how they can help the brand achieve its targets is vital.
Once your organization has made tremendous progress with its initiatives, you can reward employees with gifts and recognition that align with sustainability.
Consider Renewable Energy
Using renewable energy in the workplace is a passive way to implement green practices in your enterprise. Renewables such as sunlight, wind, water movement, and geothermal heat have a low-carbon footprint and can naturally replenish.
This form of power is great for the environment but also reduces corporate expenses. In 2021, renewable investments helped the United States save $55 billion on global energy use. As fossil fuels deplete, the cost rises, making renewable energy the perfect solution.
Offer Remote Work Options
Remote work options offer many benefits to businesses. However, these options also reduce the burning of fossil fuels due to limiting transportation.
If an employee works from home at least once a week, that limits one vehicle’s use of gas to get to and from the office. Telecommuting also reduces the resources necessary to power that employee’s workstation, reducing your overall carbon footprint.
Partner with Eco-Friendly Businesses and Nonprofits
As you start your brand’s sustainability journey, partnering with eco-friendly businesses and nonprofit organizations can help you learn and grow. Throughout the learning process, it’s essential to have a mentoring relationship with another company to provide insights and allow you to learn from their initiatives.
Partnerships with other enterprises and nonprofits can make achieving eco-conscious goals much more manageable. Many firms that partner with others pool their resources to create a more extensive environmental impact.
Sustainable Business Practices and You
With these sustainable initiatives, your business can do its part in protecting our planet. Sit down and think about the areas you most need to improve. Whether it be eco-friendly packaging or renewable energy, every step makes a difference.
About the Author:
Cora Gold is a sustainability writer who aims to live a healthy, low-waste lifestyle. Read more from Cora in Revivalist magazine, LinkedIn, and Twitter.