Before the COVID-19 pandemic business had other priorities and it seemed like simpler times. Many companies were making great progress in their efforts to be more environmentally friendly, yet since the pandemic, it’s understandable if these have gone out of the window or if they have simply become irrelevant now. As people are working from home they will be responsible for their own recycling and switching off their own lights when they’re not using them. But this doesn’t mean that green initiatives can now be forgotten. As we adapt to the new normal, your business can adapt to new ways of being environmentally friendly, it’s just a matter of knowing what to do:
Work From Home
The pandemic has actually forced many businesses to be more eco-friendly as it has meant that anyone who can, must work from home. Dee Agarwal, entrepreneur and founder best known for leading multi-category e-commerce retailer NoMoreRack.com, said: “While this was a consequence of the global pandemic, many corporations have now seen that they can operate as efficiently without requiring that their employees report to a physical office. We may have never discovered this without the current crisis, and for the sake of the environment, it is important to acknowledge this and adjust moving forward.”
Working from home has meant that people have cut down on their commutes, the traffic on the road has decreased and people are using public transport less. This has had a significant impact on the environment and even if your company does return to the office, offering flexible working and some days working from home would be a way of continuing these efforts.
Encourage Your Employees
Continue to remind your employees of your green initiatives that you had in the office, and while you can’t control if they are recycling at home, you can remind them to and encourage them to do this. If you can afford to, you could send your employees promotional items to use such as reusable tote bags for when they go out shopping, reusable face masks to wear in public, or water bottles to use while out exercising. This will not only boost morale, which is what everyone needs right now but it will help to advertise and market your business too.
Use Eco-Friendly Products and Suppliers
You can continue to make good choices when it comes to the products and suppliers you use in your business, so look at locally sourced products and suppliers to reduce the carbon footprint of your deliveries, when it comes to deep cleaning your office which should be top of your agenda when you go back to work, use chemical-free cleaning companies, supply your staff with reusable face masks and find eco-friendly hand sanitizers to place around your office.
Communicate Regularly
When working remotely, communication is key to a successful business and while you should be talking about the work that needs to be done, you also need to communicate with your employees about other things too that aren’t work-related or are more on the social side of work or related to company initiatives. You can still arrange virtual lunches and get everyone to go vegan or vegetarian for the day, or you could run a competition and ask people to send in photos of how they have been saving energy during the week. Keep talking about what you’re doing, send out a newsletter, and remind people of how they can be eco-friendly and make it a normal part of working life.
Encourage Your Clients
At the same time as encouraging your employees, you should also let your clients and customers know what you are doing. Not only will this impress them as many people are concerned about the environment now and only want to do business with companies who are aligned with that, but if you let people know what you’re doing, this will likely have a knock-on effect and give others ideas about what they can do too.
Shout About It!
While there’s not much to talk about right now other than COVID, mix things up a bit and make sure that you tell people on social media and in your emails about the good you’re doing. This will be good for business and help to attract new customers but it will also give people a break from the usual content they’re seeing every day and give them something else to think about.