Our 6 Tips for Being More Eco-Friendly at Work
We will soon be spending some time in the office again, even if it is with distance and in alternating shifts. In times of physical distance and hygiene regulations, however, we should not forget how our daily work can continue to be environmentally friendly. We at pixolution strive to make our ecological footprint as small as possible. Below we have put together some best practices from our experience that are really easy to implement.
1. Go paperless
Avoid printing where possible. Only print where it’s really required to have paper documents. We hardly print at all, our office is 99% digital. Our internal and external corporate communication is digital as well as our corporate archive. This way we save a lot of paper. If we still need to print something, we make sure we use recycled paper.
2. Drink tap water
It saves packaging waste and emissions, at the same time it’s cheaper than bottled water. We changed to drinking only tap water. But we have to admit that this is not difficult in Germany: Tap water here is of the same or even better quality than bottled water. When we buy other drinks such as lemonade or beer, we buy returnable bottles only.
3. Face summer heat with adaptation, not with technology
Our office heats up immensely in summer. But instead of installing an air conditioning system, we use fans and attach sun protection film to the windows. Additionally, everyone in our team can shift their working hours to cooler times of the day if they want to avoid the heat at noon and afternoon.
4. Hop on the bike
Half of our team already rides the bike to work, and the other half is well on its way there. Berlin is not the ideal bike city, but it’s getting better and better. At the moment many cycle lanes are being built. Besides getting to work in an eco-friendly way and getting physically fit, cycling to work has another striking advantage: you’re faster than by car or public transport.
5. Enable remote working
We’re all used to working from home now. Of course it is not possible in every industry to work from home permanently. But in the industries where it’s possible it should become more natural to work remotely. Saving the daily trip to the office means saving energy, unless you ride your bike:). So why not arrange fixed days where your staff can keep working from home.
6. Make video conferences a habit
Personal contact with customers and partners is very important. But in our experience, it is not necessary to really meet in person for this. Video conferences are as good as meetings on site. We have several long-term relationships with customers we have never met in person. Video conferences are much easier and faster to arrange, they save time and money. In our view, business trips can be reduced to an absolute minimum. Mother Earth is grateful.
Originally published on https://pixolution.org/blog.
