Motivating your employees to go green in the office might be easier than you think. It often doesn’t take a lot in the way of changes or incentives to push them toward eco-friendly practices. And if you make it fun and rewarding, your employees might even grow to enjoy their greener office environment.

Here are a few simple ways to make your office greener, while motivating your employees to contribute to the cause.

 

Lighting Issues

Probably one of the quickest and easiest ways to start going green in the office is by making the switch over to energy-efficient light bulbs. But beyond this change, your employees can affect energy consumption by ensuring that they turn lights off when they leave their office or when they go home for the evening. Posting simple signs near light switches is a cheap and easy reminder.

 

A Green Office Video

 

 

Other Power Savers

Your lighting is one way to go green in the office, but there are other sources of energy consumption that could be putting an extra drain on your efforts to make your office space a little eco-friendlier. Turning printers, computers and copiers off or onto “sleep mode” when away from the office or when they aren’t in use can help conserve energy. And raising or lowering the thermostat before you leave the office at night, depending upon the season, can help you reduce energy consumption as well.

 

Recycle Bins

The office place can be a killer for your recycling efforts, but it might not take much to get your employees thinking about pitching in to help in making this space greener. Everything from cans and bottles to paper and printer cartridges can be tossed out without a second thought. To dissuade this waste by employees, consider strategically placing recycle bins. Putting such bins in offices, near printers, in the break room, and possibly even restrooms could make it a simple act to recycle for the majority of your employees.

Water Reduction

Water consumption and waste in the office place might be higher than you suspect. From the toilets and faucets in the restrooms to the water cooler or sink in the break room, there are a variety of ways that you and your employees can conserve water in the workplace.

You may want to consider such water reducing additions as low-flow faucets and commodes. This can take the need for employee assistance out of your conservation equation. However, keeping up awareness regarding eco-friendly practices can be key to making your efforts successful. Therefore, you may want to have employees bring their own glasses or mugs from home to reduce foam cup consumption or to eliminate the need for those paper cups around the water cooler. If nothing else; consider putting a recycle bin close to your water cooler to collect such waste should you continue to use paper cups.

Motivational Factors

Finding ways to go green in the office might be easier than actually motivating employees to help contribute to your eco-friendly efforts. To push them in the right direction, consider setting reduction goals and then tracking you office’s utility consumption. Putting goals and tracking numbers up in easy to view and regularly frequented areas like break rooms and restrooms or sending out regular email updates can keep employees apprised of their progress. If they achieve their goals, you might want to throw them an office-wide party, give them a bonus, or provide a similar reward to show your appreciation and help to reinforce their continued eco-friendly efforts.

 

Carl works for Motivo Performance Group in Houston, TX. They design and implement employee motivation programs that increase employee satisfaction, reduce employee turnover and boost company profits.

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