4 Green Opportunities to Incorporate Into Your Business Strategy
Going green is “in,” both at private residences and at businesses. There are a number of reasons to make your business operations more environmentally-friendly — it can make your employees happier and more productive, it serves as a great marketing point with your customers and it can save you significant money. Best of all, your company will be doing its part to reduce an environmental impact. Here are four green opportunities you should seriously consider incorporating into your business strategy.
1. Go Digital
Many businesses have done this already. It can save a lot of money and reduce significant amounts of paper waste. Going digital can also make your customers happy as it is often more convenient for them. You can go digital on just about anything, from mailings to invoices. Going digital also comes with the added bonus of increasing communication with your customers, particularly individuals in the Millennial generation, who largely prefer communicating with a company through digital and instant messaging means. Your customers can give you good ideas and feedback if you have regular dialogues with them. If you aren’t particularly Internet-savvy, there are services like Enterprise Web Development Companies that can help develop and design all aspects of your digital presence for you.
2. Redo Your Office
Consider renovating your office. These renovations can be something as simple as putting in new light fixtures to something a little more drastic. For example, adding in more windows and shuffling a layout around creates more natural light to work by. Scientific consensus agrees that employees who work in more natural light are overwhelmingly more creative and energetic, and thus more productive. Having more natural light also prevents the need to have overhead or desk lights on all the time, which reduces electricity consumption. Replacing old windows can also save you on heating and cooling costs, and you can install solar panels to generate clean electricity as well.
3. Make Your Products From Recycled Materials
If you manufacture a product, consider using recycled materials in its creation. You can use recycled materials in anything from paper products to construction. Customers usually feel good about buying products made from recycled materials, as they like feeling they have personally done something to help the environment. It also gives them a more positive image of your company. Using recycled materials can potentially save you money and the hassle of procuring new materials. It is also of great benefit to the environment, because it frees up space in landfills and reduces harmful emissions.
4. Allow Your Employees To Work From Home
Allowing employees to work from home, if it is at all possible, drastically reduces the energy consumption at your place of business. In fact, it’s been estimated that businesses can save on average $11,000 per employee by permitting them to work remotely half the time. On the days where your office itself is closed, your employees will not consume paper products, electricity for lighting or air conditioning, or water. Allowing employees to work remotely will also be seen as a perk, as many of them would likely prefer to work at home, spend more time with their families and skip the morning commute. The ability to work remotely is also a major selling point when trying to recruit new talent.
Businesses should seek to go green wherever possible. There are very few drawbacks compared to a myriad of advantages. Incorporating green opportunities into your business strategy and operations puts you in an excellent position to save money, create a more satisfied workforce and reach a greater customer base. Whether the changes are small, such as purchasing some of your materials secondhand or sending out a digital newsletter rather than a physical one, or something more major like allowing your employees to work from home a significant part of the time or doing significant renovations to your office, they can make a big impact.
