How Your Business Can Encourage Employees to Go Green

Try using these ideas to kickstart your workforce’s new eco-friendly habits.

• By Jane Marsh
• Jan 20, 2021

As a business owner, you have the power to positively impact the planet. It takes various resources to run a successful company, and the greener you make your process, the better the environment will fare. Your employees play a significant role in achieving those goals.

Here are some ideas to push your workforce to be more eco-friendly.

Offer Commuter Passes

Where is your business located? If it has access to nearby public transportation, you should consider giving your employees paid-for commuter passes. Vehicles account for 59 percent of transportation greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. People will be more likely to leave their cars at home when the bus or subway ride doesn’t cost anything.

Your workers may have no choice but to drive. In this case, you should urge them to carpool. Have a meeting with everyone to organize a rotating list where people can sign up weekly. This effort will encourage fewer employees to drive to work.

Make Results Known

There is no point in hiding your business’s accomplishments. It’s always a good idea to make your progress known. These updates will keep your workforce up to date.

You can try this trick in different ways:

● Add a section to your weekly email newsletter.

● Post information like your building’s decreasing power bill on a bulletin board.

● Display how many water bottles your employees use in a week.

● Send out a monthly video in which you talk about your progress.

As a result, you can expect your employees to have a sense of responsibility in their roles to complete those goals. Everyone responds better to tangible examples. After all, it’s hard to feel proud of yourself when you don’t know how well you’ve done.

Don’t Buy Reusables

Does your office have a kitchen? If so, you should provide more ways for your employees to eat and drink sustainably. Every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic enters the oceans. Everyone needs to eliminate single-use plastics whenever possible.

Stock your building’s break room with water glasses and coffee mugs. You can also provide plates and silverware that employees can use for lunch. If you have enough space and money, you might even want to install a dishwasher. You could help boost customer loyalty by offering reusable cups to clients, too.

These additions will do wonders in reducing waste.

Add More Recycling Bins

If you don’t know where a recycling bin is located, you aren’t going to recycle, right? That’s why accessibility matters. You also want to ensure you have enough cans to accommodate everyone’s items. Place multiple bins throughout the office for maximum effectiveness.

Store Documents Online

There’s a chance you go through a lot of paper as a company. Recycling will help mitigate waste, but you could do better by eliminating that excess altogether. Why not convert your documents to a cloud system?

This switch makes things easier for a couple of reasons. First, your employees will be able to access records quicker. Second, it’s ideal for keeping essential items organized. You’ll be able to save a lot of paper as a result.

Organize a Sustainable Committee

A crucial step is to create a sustainable committee. This trick is the best way to ensure your employees stay engaged every step of the way. It’s also a great idea to spur innovation. After all, you can’t think of everything by yourself.

Get everyone together to see who wants to be part of the team. You can keep the dynamic simple, too. In other words, you don’t need someone to lead the group. It should just be a collective way to support and promote your business’s green initiatives overall.

Use These Ideas to Help Your Employees Be More Sustainable

If you’re going green as a company, you need to take your employees along for the ride. That effort might seem easier said than done. Try using these ideas to kickstart your workforce’s new eco-friendly habits. It won’t be long before everyone has a sustainable outlook.