Eco

Do you own your own business? Have you ever considered the advantages of having an environmentally friendly business? There could be some rewards that you don’t know about.

Having an eco-friendly business is something that people care about a lot. Promoting that you are an eco-friendly business and making the effort to protect the environment can do a great deal for your business’s reputation, and it will certainly make you stand out from the crowd. You will appeal to certain customers/clients who care about the environment, and those are looking for an eco-friendly alternative to your main competitors.

Here are some of the benefits of going eco-friendly as a business, and a few ways you can do it yourself:

Sustainability

From a business perspective, going eco-friendly will reduce your impact on the environment, but it will also help the chances of survival within your industry for the long run, boosting the likelihood of long-term success. That’s because becoming less dependant on natural resources will give you the edge over your competitors, circumventing the need for ever-more expensive raw materials that continue to rise in price due to the changes in climate and resource depletion.

Recycling

Recycling will reduce your business’s overhead costs, as well as helping the planet. Save time and money by doing things such as this:

  • Reduce your paper needs by printing double-sided
  • Avoid using materials unnecessarily
  • Recycle by shredding excess paper
  • Reuse by encouraging employees to use scrap pieces of paper for note taking or messages taking
  • Using products that are made from recycling materials e.g. office supplies that have been made from recycled plastic.
  • You can change business activities e.g. reducing air travel and holding conference calls instead of face to face meetings when not needed.

Waste

Cutting back on waste is another great way to save the planet, but it comes with great benefits for your business too. For example, going paperless by using HR systems or tools like Cezanne HR to manage employee pay and payslips online, using efficient light bulbs and insulating office spaces to ensure they’re warm in the winter and cool in the summer will cut back on the cost of numerous overheads and speed up internal processes to increase your productivity and profitability.

Speed up operations

When you establish an eco-friendly company strategy, you will begin to realize how much time it saves in many different areas across your business. Methods such using video conferencing instead of traveling for face to face meetings means that client communications can be dramatically improved, and made infinitely more efficient, for example.

Enhanced reputation

As shareholders and consumers become more environmentally conscious, your business will earn a glowing reputation by going ‘green’ at an early stage. By becoming eco-friendly, you can develop new products to tap into and meet what is predicted to be an ever-increasing demand. Companies that put emphasis on environmental efforts will resonate with eco-conscious consumers and possible would-be investors, so market yourself and highlight your green credentials to make the most of these opportunities.

With ‘green’ business practices beginning to take off across the world, and the advantages it it could bring to your business, now is the time to get on board with a new way of running your company.