Small businesses often don’t have a lot of time to think about sustainability, but being more environmentally friendly can be a boon for your business in more ways than one. In today’s business climate, more consumers are taking a hard look at sustainable practices — meaning you can endear yourselves to potential buyers.
In today’s tight labor market, you can also appeal to younger workers, which studies show are deeply concerned about the environment.
Here are four easy ways to implement sustainability into your business.
Workers work from home
We’ve talked about how working for home can be a big plus for your business, but it can also be a boost to your sustainable practices. Allowing your employees to work from home will reduce vehicle pollution and energy costs within your office. It also appeals to younger employees, who expect flexible work arrangements.
Your workers will also be more productive. AT&T found its telecommuters worked more hours at home than its office workers. JD Edwards found that its workers were 20 to 25% more productive at home. Companies with full-time telecommuters save an average of $10,000 per employee per year on real estate costs as well, according to Global Workplace Analytics statistics. It makes sense: you don’t need as big of a space if you’re employees aren’t coming in every day.
LED lights the way
Depending on the size of your office, the cost of installing LED lights can be a bit steep. But this is a long-term-term play, and it’s one that has proven its benefits to businesses time and time again. LED lights can cut energy consumption by as much as 80% if you’re using incandescent bulbs, they last longer, and, many times, they actually look much better.
The total cost of electricity after 25,000 hours at 12 cents per kilowatt hour is $30 for an LED light compared to $180 for an incandescent light.
Turn it off!
You may not think about it, but leaving lights and computers on can incrementally increase your power costs. Encourage your employees to ensure all electronics and lights are turned off by the end of the day. This will cut energy consumption and save you some dough.
According to Energy Star, small businesses spend near $60 million per year on energy. Even the most basic energy-cutting measures can help your business take a chunk out of that number.
Scratch paper
Do you really need to print off an agenda for everyone in a meeting? Or do you need to print off several emails? Offices are notorious for their use of paper, and you can see how the above examples can add up to a lot of paper over time. Give employees laptops instead of desktops so they can store files on their computers and bring them from place to place. That means less paper thrown away after one use.
U.S. organizations spend $80 per employee on paper annually, and that 50 to 70% of office spaces was used for filing and storing printed documents. That leaves plenty of potential for paperless companies.