Pure Growth!

At my last office job, my co-workers and I would sit around and wonder why we had to come into the office at all. On days when we were doing creative work, like content authoring, blogging, etc., it really didn’t make any difference whether we were at our office desk or home desk. Actually, that’s not entirely true. There was one big difference: On days when my physical presence wasn’t required, I was still forced to waste nearly 3 hours commuting. My morale sank like an iron raft. I simply wasn’t as productive.

If your employees have job tasks that can be performed from home, it makes a lot of sense to allow them to telecommute one or two days a week — or more.

Telecommuting is an excellent opportunity to promote greener business practices without sacrificing results or daily production. It is a rare win-win compromise that satisfies employees as well as your bottom line.

Here are a some good reasons you should implement a telecommuting policy for your green business.

1. Telecommuting boosts employee morale. When my co-workers and I discussed how wasteful it was to have us come in on days when we could have done our work from home, we all agreed that if given the chance to telecommute, we would go out of our ways to work even harder! Employees that are given the opportunity to work from the comfort of their home, or even a local park or cafe, will be grateful for the opportunity. Many will see it as an expression of your trust and work hard to meet expectations. No generalizations here: a study reported in the Journal of Applied Psychology determined that “Telecommuters reported more job satisfaction, less motivation to leave the company, less stress, improved work-family balance, and higher performance ratings by supervisors.”

2. Telecommuting provides an excellent opportunity to cut costs. If you find that telecommuting is working for your employees, you can cut down on equipment costs. Instead of setting up an individual workstation for every employee, create an alternating telecommuting schedule so employees can share equipment without conflict when they are in the office. Organizing a system like this can cut equipment costs dramatically by stretching the range of your current resources.

3. Telecommuting means less environmental impact. Telecommuting can make your business greener in a few important ways. First, it eliminates the need to commute, which reduces carbon emissions and the consumption of oil. Secondly, reducing the amount of people that are in the office means less paper will be wasted and less electricity will be used. These small benefits quickly add up to save your company even more money, while the burden on the environment is reduced with each passing day.

If you are unsure of how well telecommuting will work for your company, all it takes is a little planning and foresight. Make sure you have systems in place that will let employees know what is expected of them and what work needs to be completed before they start working from home. Search online for some web-based project collaboration services that can make this task easier. Roll out your new telecommuting program as a temporary trial to evaluate performance and see where improvements can be made. Once you’ve streamlined the system, offer more frequent opportunities to work from home.

I’m confident that you will discover telecommuting is a legitimate opportunity to both green your business as well as boost employee productivity and morale.

Greenwash is a huge problem for eco-minded businesses.

It is commonly defined as “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company, or the environmental benefits of a product or service.” Put simply, greenwashing is the fastest way to failure in a growing industry that caters to a highly skeptical audience.

Don’t think greenwash is a big deal? Figure you can get away with fudging a few claims to win over a green consumer or two? Wrong. Not only are these practices highly unethical, but there are now watchdog organizations that make it their business to uncover greenwash and put disreputable companies in the spotlight, ruining their chances of conducting business with eco-conscious markets. Sourcewatch, Greenwashing Index, and Greenwashing.net are three of the most popular organizations of this kind.

So, what do green consumers demand from an authentically eco-friendly business? Here are three qualities to focus on if you want to be successful with this audience.

1. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t think you’ll be able to get away with selling a green product alongside contradictory products in your lineup. Take the promotional products industry for example. Many of the companies in this wasteful industry are now including “eco-friendly” products in their lineup, as if this could possibly distract consumers from the hundreds of thousands of other plastic, non-biodegradable products they sell. Don’t be a hypocrite – consumers aren’t stupid.

2. Don’t lie. This should be common sense, but it seems that a few companies can’t quite get the grasp of this one yet. Lying sends a very clear and simple message: my company offers no real value; therefore I must twist and exaggerate facts in order to effectively manipulate you into buying my useless products and services. If you lie, you’ll be found out eventually…and when it happens, it will not be worth it. Do not make false claims about the green status of your company, do not embellish facts, and do not underestimate the intelligence of an informed consumer.

3. Don’t hide. More than anything, green consumers demand transparency and accountability from the companies they choose to give their business to. Go out of your way to make any unclear aspects of your operation as accessible as possible. No company is perfect – even if your company has some less-green characteristics, honesty will go a long way with an eco-conscious audience. The more you information you share with your market, the more trust you earn. Once consumers feel comfortable with your business and value your honesty, you’ve won half the battle!

This isn’t rocket science folks. Running a successful green business requires a healthy dose of common sense, maybe even more than a running a “normal” business might require. Consumers are skeptical of green claims thanks to some phony profiteers, so now it’s your responsibility to regain their trust. Stick to ethical business models and you should have no problem capturing a deserved share of this rapidly expanding green consumer market.

I want to my business to go green. Where do I start?

Many businesses are interested in going green, but often feel intimidated by the process and don’t know where to begin. If this sounds like you, I highly recommend writing an environmental policy statement, even if it means hiring a green copywriter to do it for you.

An environmental policy statement is essentially a written declaration of specific goals and principles that your company is committed to. By putting your environmental mission in writing, you create a valuable reference you can use when making decisions in the future, as well as an important benchmark that will make it easier to evaluate and measure progress.

The value of a written environmental policy statement

An environmental policy statement provides a unifying vision that will influence and guide the actions of employees and management towards sustainability and reduced environmental impact. It can also be used as a green marketing tool that lets customers, shareholders, and community members know exactly where your company stands on environmental issues.

The process of drafting your environmental policy can also help you find new ways to reduce expenses and increase overall efficiency. By spending time evaluating your current policies, you will inevitably find some areas where improvements can be made.

Who should be involved in the process of coming up with the statement?

If you want your policy to be successful in its execution, gather input from a wide range of people within your organization. Not only will this help you collect new information and ideas, but it will get the entire company excited about and committed to the new policy.

Leaders from the company should find ways to effectively communicate the statement to employees, establish new expectations, and make sure the statement is made available to the public.

This sounds really helpful! What are some things I should put in the statement?

An environmental policy statement is most useful when it is simple and understandable. Make sure your company’s commitment to eco-friendly improvement is clearly outlined. Consider these four common aspects of a comprehensive policy:

1. Legal compliance. If your organization adheres to certain environmental regulations, it’s important to address them in your statement. Identify the relevant issues and note that your company strives to meet and exceed any applicable standards.

2. Product/service improvements. Your commitment should also discuss measures being taking to prevent or reduce any negative environmental impacts your products or services may have. Include clear objectives such as reducing waste or resource consumption.

3. Dedication to continual improvement. Running a successful green business means that you are committed to making constant improvements in all areas of your operation. It is important to convey this goal in your statement to prevent stagnation or a relapse into eco-unfriendly practices.

4. Transparency, accountability, and communication. It is also important to reference the fact that your company will clearly communicate details about its environmental impact to the public. Talk about your appreciation of customer input, as well as your understanding of the importance of honest, authentic, and socially-responsible business practices.

Examples of green policy statements

• Apple
  
• Disney
• Hewlett-Packard
• Kodak
• John Deere

Well, that covers the basic elements of a comprehensive environmental policy! If you have any questions about writing one, or would like to hire a professional green copywriter to draft one on behalf of your business, you can e-mail me for details.