Are you concerned about how green your workplace is? I’m not talking about the more obvious (and potentially higher-profile) green issues such as the sustainability of your building’s construction or the environmental impact of your company’s products, manufacturing processes, and packaging/shipping methods. I’m asking just how green your office is from day to day.
Whether you work in a conventional office or from a home office, as I do, then every day you’re handling various materials that help you do your job; creating a certain amount of waste; using cleaning products to keep your desk spic and span; and consuming various beverages and foods to keep you sufficiently distracted and somewhat mentally alert. All of these actions add up to produce a footprint that has a collective impact on the environment.
You may not be contributing as much waste to the environment as a factory, but even so you’d like to make a difference. If you’re wondering what’s the best way to start, let me share with you what we’ve done so far at Wall Street Communications.
Most of us at Wall Street have been with the company for a number of years, and we’re a pretty close crew despite the fact that 21 out of our 25 employees work from home offices. We’ve already got a head start in becoming a greener company because our telecommuting model reduces our overall morning CO2 surge, and most of us are longtime recyclers of office paper products. Quite a few members of the staff are concerned about or active in environmental preservation, and with a number of our clients implementing green/clean technology practices for their own companies, we decided to explore ways to integrate even greater greenness into our own business practices.
Often, adoption of green practices will be a grassroots effort at first, led by one or two employees with a commitment to getting their green thing on and inspiring others to do same on an informal basis. Getting senior management motivated is a key step in greening your office, so get the whole team on board. Don’t be too shy to reach out and see if your fellow employees are interested in greening your office tasks. You’ll most likely be surprised by the support you get. There are a lot of closet greens out there.
Fortunately for Wall Street staff, we had management buy-in from the outset. Company president Chris Lesieutre not only voiced his concerns about the environment, but also helped set the stage for formal talk among management. About a year ago, he asked a couple of us to put together a best green practices document for Wall Street Communications. The effort led to the formation of the company’s “green committee.”
In working to develop our best green practices, we did a lot of engaging and active soliciting of Wall Streeters for information about their daily work habits, their office equipment, and whether or not they recycle paper and items such as ink cartridges. We asked if they sip their coffee from Styrofoam cups or washable mugs, what type of lightbulbs they use, how they heat their offices, and a lot more. Somewhere along the way, the idea of launching a green newsletter just for us was born.
The purpose of our newsletter is to sensitize staff to the importance of greening their individual work environments and to provide useful advice about how to do so. At first we distributed it as a text-only email and posted it on our Facebook group, but we had such a great response that after only a couple of bi-monthly issues, we developed our own look and feel and made the newsletter official and interactive.
Now, I’m not saying that you’ll necessarily have the tools or the bandwidth to get a newsletter started, but I am telling you that reaching out to others in the company – and to senior management once you’re ready to take your day to day efforts to the next level – is a definite must. Once you’ve found some like-minded individuals, starting a small green committee, just as we did, is one way to increase the power of one. Together, you can decide how to get key decision-makers in the company to support your initiatives.
Start small, and have patience. Show management how your company is contributing to global waste, and then outline a path for change. If your green actions already are saving the company money – by reducing printing costs, energy, or other investments of time or money – let management know. The discussion surrounding adoption of greener day-to-day practices should be a frank, executive-level conversation; if possible, try to get a member of management onto your green team.
While executive-level buy-in is key, the green team should be sure to engage fellow employees. Getting greener is much more fun when others get involved and, in the end, broad participation is essential to any large-scale initiatives. So, get your creativity going and start looking for recycling/reusing tips, tricks or great books on the environment that others might want to share. Dedicate part of your company bulletin board or intranet to the posting of green ideas and achievements. Ask colleagues for their green New Year’s resolutions. In her effort to be more green in 2010, one Wall Street employee found and shared a font that reduces her printer ink usage!
I’m optimistic that we at Wall Street can continue to grow our green efforts and that our green committee will become even stronger through further outreach, meaningful results, and higher ideals. You can do the same! Make 2010 a year to show your true colors and may every one boast a shade of green.
