The Importance of Promoting Sustainability in the Office
Sustainability has become a major component of successful corporate development. Not only is it important for creating environmentally friendlier practices and processes in the workplace, but it cultivates a healthier and more productive workplace for your employees. Allow us to teach you the importance of promoting sustainability in the office.
What Is Sustainability in the Office?
When you think of sustainability, your mind likely thinks of practices that are beneficial to the environment. Most people consider any green office to be sustainable, but OSHA defines a sustainable workplace can be achieved by balancing the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit for long-term success and viability.
What this means, exactly, is that your workplace finds a healthy balance between creating a healthier environment, caring for your employees, and still ensuring your business succeeds—an admittedly delicate balancing act. The three aren’t naturally opposed to each other. There are many benefits to sustainable practices that will benefit your business, employees, and help you find greater success.
Advantages of Sustainability
The importance of promoting sustainability in the office is two-fold—to both reduce the environmental impact of your business and find ways to make your business more successful. The most immediate benefit you’ll reap is that your workplace becomes more efficient in its use of resources. This not only minimizes how much waste your business produces, but creates a more efficient work environment, thus saving natural resources and increasing employee satisfaction.
Sustainability Practices
Like any change, processes must be introduced gradually. Some practices to begin introducing sustainability to the workplace are the increased access to recycling and making sure waste is discarded in its proper place. For example, batteries from electronic devices need to be disposed of properly because of the corrosive materials and hard metals within them. For that reason, battery recycling is one of the best practices your business can implement.
The next implementation to make is finding new ways or upgrading existing ways to cut down on your energy and resource consumption. While you need to produce adequate light, climate control, and more for your employees’ comfort and safety, you can still find ways to be more efficient with resources. Energy-efficient lightbulbs, reducing the use of paper, and investing in renewable energy such as solar panels are some great ways to start.