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.

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.

World leaders at the G-8 Summit announced today that they will work together to halve world greenhouses gas emissions by 2050. The eight leading industrial nations represented at the summit - the U.S., Russia, Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Canada, and Italy - made it clear they are committed to a joint battle against global warming, and urged other major economies to contribute to the fight.

What does this announcement mean for green business?

It means that not only are you in high demand, but you are essential to the continued progress and sustainable development of the world from this point forward. In order to achieve the reduction goal, the G-8 understands that contributions must be made by every country and every economy. The time to act is now.

By setting goals for your own business, you can contribute to the global fight while also taking advantage of an opportunity for unprecidented business growth. Aligning the development of your company with sustainable practices has proven profitable for many of the world’s most successful companies (HP, Heinz, and British Telecom to name a few), and that means it can work for you as well — no matter how big or small your business may be.