Is your company interested in becoming more environmentally conscious? The benefits for going green include reducing expenses, gaining customers, boosting employee morale, and reducing impact on the environment.
Many of your employees might be working from home now with COVID-19, but at some point more may return to work. When that happens, here are some things to consider.
The first place to start with green initiatives is on the ground level with employees. Include them in creating a green vision, ask for their ideas on how your organization can go green, and make it easy for them to practice environmentally friendly habits and be more environmentally conscious. For a green workplace initiative to work, it’s crucial that employees are on board. Below are some simple ways to go green in your organization.
Set up recycling stations for paper, plastic, and office supplies, and make sure employees know the correct recycling procedures.
Decorate your workspace with real plants, if possible, to boost oxygen levels and potentially remove harmful pollutants such as carbon dioxide and formaldehyde.
Allow employees to telecommute when possible. In addition to keeping employees safer with COVID-19, telecommuting plays a key role in saving the environment by conserving energy and reducing fuel consumption and pollution.
Get free teleworking resources from the local nonprofit Commuter Services.
Encourage employees to bike and walk more. Employees who use their legs to get to work or run errands keep vehicles off the road while improving their physical fitness. Commuter Services will provide a free bike rack for your worksite. Hennepin County also offers biking resources. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information on how to slow the spread of COVID-19 when using transportation.
Provide locally grown produce through community supported agriculture (CSA). Learn more at Minnesota Grown.
Offer green campaigns as a fun way to involve employees in your organization’s green initiative. Here are six green campaign ideas.
Provide volunteer and outreach opportunities to support your organization’s green vision. Here are a couple ideas:
-
Minnesota Department of Transportation Adopt a Highway — As part of this program, employees pick up litter at least two times a year for two years. New COVID-19 safety guidelines are in place for volunteers, including limiting groups to no more than 10 and staying at least 6 feet apart.
-
A Time for Trees — Join the Arbor Day Foundation, get 10 free trees, and plant them on your organization’s campus. Trees are the environment’s natural air purifiers; they reduce cooling costs and attract rain. A single tree will absorb approximately 1 ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime. Learn how trees make a difference by watching this video by the Arbor Day Foundation.
Back to top
|
