From reduced operating costs to targeting a particular customer demographic, having your small business become more environmentally friendly can yield a host of benefits. Reviews for Global Resources LLC can help you in all manner of your small business operations in addition to these tips about reducing your carbon footprint.
Go Paperless
Unless you deal specifically in stationary, the vast majority of banks and accounting software allow for paperless services. This will save you on everything from paper, envelopes, stamps, extra printers, to even printer ink costs.
Even paper mail that your company receives should be scanned and digitized for convenience and security. This can be a lifesaver in the event of an audit where you can instantly access and deliver documents that are easy to lose such as printed receipts and mountains of invoice records.
It is always beneficial to cut out the middleman and save your firm’s time when you already receive digital documents and don’t have to go through the hassle of translating paper products to digital. Modern computer technology can save your business entire rooms of inventory where paper records would have been stored in decades past.
Incentivize Green Transportation
If your company is based out of a metropolitan area with reliable public service, you can subsidize your employees’ transportation such as bus or subway passes. This can create a more reliable commute, meaning that employees and you no longer must guess how traffic will be on a given day.
Allowing space for bike storage can encourage workers in a bike-friendly town to pedal into work, another option that often doesn’t vary as much as automotive traffic might.
Finally, for areas that don’t have mass transportation or bike-friendly roads, you can help workers coordinate carpool routes either through personal vehicles or splitting a car in some sort of rideshare application.
Encouraging more environmentally responsible transportation amongst your workforce can also yield practical benefits, as your workers will not have to battle traffic as much and public transport can remove some of the more cliché vehicular excuses as to why a given team member was tardy.
Invest in Renewable Energy
Fossil fuel alternatives have made staggering leaps in the past few decades. From solar panels on the roof of your business to buying an electric company car, there are a wide variety of ways you can jump on the renewable trend.
Many of these options are geographically dependent. Solar electricity requires being located in an area that provides appropriate sunlight, but if you are in a sunny area such as the American Southwest, you might reach a point of energy independence where you can even sell surplus energy back to the power grid.
Likewise, geothermal heating is region-specific, but it can save money on heating costs after establishing the infrastructure. Not only will your heating bill benefit, but you will reduce your dependence on harmful methods of energy.
Consider transitioning your vehicles from gas/diesel to electric over the next decade as vehicle manufacturers begin rolling our more electric vehicles, including trucks. For example, Ford Motor Company, currently offers an E-Transit electric van with scheduled maintenance costs which are 40 percent lower than the average maintenance costs of a comparable gas-powered van. Ford, which sells the popular F-150 pickup truck, which is the best-selloing vehicle sold in the US, has introduced an electric version of the F-150 that is arriving in 2022. General Motors is also developing an electric version of its Silverado pick-up truck. GM also announced a $7 billion investment into developing electric vehicles. And, Ford said that it will have annual capacity to build 600,000 electric vehicles, including 150,000 F-150 Lightning pickups within 24 months. While you would not know it by what you see on the street today, there is a revolution taking place by vehicle manufacturers to fast-track their movement into electric vehicles. Entrepreneures who want to be on the cutting edge of this green revolution will find long-term benefits and cost savings with lower maintence and fuel costs. Moreover, tax credits offered by the US government for electric vehicles will lower the initial investment.
Create a Remote Team
Telecommuting has proven to be a viable form of work. Establishing a remote team for departments that don’t have to constantly convene in person can save all parties involved.
Employees can save money and time by not having to commute, and their attendance can be more dependable now that they are not at the mercy of rush hour traffic.
Employers can save on office space and maintenance costs now that they don’t have to accommodate so many departments in each space, and remote employees are often more efficient working from the comfort of home.
Finally, the environment will benefit by reducing energy consumption from vehicles and company housing.
What was once seen as a luxury, an eco-friendly corporate model is proving not only socially responsible but is also showing real benefits for both employers and employees. These benefits are likely to only improve as green-technology advances and scientists look towards alternatives to fossil fuels.
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