Tag Archives: paperless office

4 Ways To Shift Your Business To Renewable Energy

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Going green is a viable business strategy if you’re looking for ways to become a sustainable brand. Doing so won’t only significantly reduce costs but may also potentially attract new customers and supporters. That’s why it’s no longer a surprise when entrepreneurs are considering renewable energy in powering up their companies. This isn’t impossible to achieve thanks to technology, especially if you’ve done enough research and you’re in it for the long haul.

Renewable energy isn’t difficult to understand. It means collecting useful energy from sources that are renewable and won’t be depleted even when used constantly.  These include solar or wind power. The process involves continuous replenishment of energy, which you can take advantage of as a business owner. Depending on how flexible you are as a company, shifting to renewable energy might just be one of the best investments you could make.

No matter what your goal may be for making the switch, here are some ways you could start turning to renewable energy for your enterprise.

Ways To Shift Your Business To Renewable Energy

1. Know Your Options

As there are different types of renewable energy sources, doing your research is a good starting point.  This is for you to know your options and make a decision accordingly. If your facility has considerable roof space, you may consider turning to solar energy.  This turns the sun’s energy into electricity that you can use for your business. If you’re from Florida, solar companies in Miami like Airis Energy Solutions and others would be more than willing to have a discussion.  This may include how you can take advantage of the infinite benefits of the sun and its energy.

Florida is a good location considering its adequate exposure to sunlight. To add, being in the US qualifies your business for a tax credit.  This is in return for using renewable energy for your business power needs. Aside from solar power, you could also tap into other energy sources such as commercial wind from turbine blades, hydroelectricity, and biomass from organic matter.

2. Weigh The Cost Vs. Benefits

As a business, one of your priorities is to make sure every cost should justify the benefits you’ll gain out of an investment. Since you’re considering shifting your business to renewable energy, it’s essential to realize and analyze the cost of each of your options.  By doing so, you could decide better. Solar panels, for example, may come with a hefty upfront cost. However, if you think about the return of investment it can potentially give, it’s something to consider.  Also. many panels have around 20-25 years of warranty in them.

On the other hand, micro wind turbines may be cheaper, but their lifespan is shorter. You could opt for larger sizes, but of course, you also need to consider the space you have. Additionally, it requires maintenance and the environmental permits you may need to obtain from your local government or municipality’s office.

3. Turn It Into An Advocacy

Going green is brilliant advocacy that won’t only allow you to save on electricity costs. To add, you can attract more customers and supporters.  You may do this if you amp up your public relations and highlight how you’re trying to make a difference in saving the planet. No matter how small the impact may be, it feels good knowing you can contribute to the environment. For sure, your customers would also be more motivated to spend money on a brand that cares.

green entrepreneurship

4. Involve Your Employees

Environmentally conscious advocacy isn’t just something you can impose on the organization. You need to ensure your employees are educated and informed about.  This is needed so you can all work together in achieving the goal. Doing so will encourage everyone on the team to support the cause.

Aside from renewable energy sources, you can also consider adopting a sustainable and eco-friendly approach in the workplace. You could provide learning materials that’ll teach everyone how to conserve energy. Also, you may come up with recycling programs that could potentially reduce commercial wastes. A paperless office can also go a long way in going green for your business. For example, using a paystub will allow you to deliver paystubs digitally, therefore saving on paper which preserves energy. Check out the best paystub generator free to save on money and the environment.

Involving the employees, staff, and colleagues is a positive experience that can surely help you achieve a desirable and sustainable outcome for the company.

Conclusion

Shifting to renewable energy is something that all businesses should consider, no matter the size and nature of the industry. With the planet’s resources slowly but surely depleting, it’s about time to think of ways to contribute.  If all establishments and workplaces would start to feel like this, all efforts won’t surely be wasted.

Know your options when thinking of a renewable energy source. Make sure you weigh the cost of investment to determine if it’s worth the benefits. Turn your goal into advocacy, and don’t forget to involve your employees so you can work hand in hand in achieving a common objective.

Everything You Need to Know About a Paperless Office

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Businesses are the largest users of papers and this is taking a heavy toll on the forests and other natural resources. The paper production process consumes a lot of wood and water, besides generating effluents which are harmful for the environment.  One of the best ways a business can become environmentally-friendly is to minimize the use of paper in the workplace. Going paperless is one of the essential features of an eco-friendly office. The conversion of paper files into electronic documents is a key step in the journey towards a paperless office. But what is a paperless office and how can it benefit your organization? Read on to know more:

What is a Paperless Office?

A paper-free office uses the lowest amount of paper and relies heavily on digital documents, thus drastically reducing the use of paper in workplace.  But going paperless is not a magic wand and requires careful planning, organization and employee participation. The right set of tools and proper employee training is required to realise the dream of a paperless office.

paper-free-office

In addition to being eco-friendly, a paper-free office should also provide tangible benefits in order to motivate the office staff. Saving time and efforts through easier filing and document retrieval system is an important step in eliminating paper from the workplace. Another notable step is to replace individual printers with a centralized network printer to track paper usage and restrict the purchase of ink and toners.

The digital filing system is the heart of a paperless office. Digitizing your documentation like using an absence management software, for instance, will not only help in easy document filing but also aid in smooth and fast retrieval. Infact, a cloud-based document management system will enable employees to access important documents off-site, besides safe storage of documents.

Benefits of Going Paperless

Going paperless has numerous benefits for both the business owner and the employees, ranging from saving time and money to boosting security. It is important to analyse the use of paper in the workplace from an individual level upto the organizational level.

Let us analyse the major advantages of a paperless workplace:

1. Saves Time and Space

The filing, organizing and retrieval of paper documents is a time-taking process. Having an electronic filing system will enable file management to be done at the click of a mouse, thus helping business owners to assign employees to more productive and revenue-generating tasks.

Finding ample office space for the filing cabinets is a nightmare for many business owners as the files keeps piling up with each passing year. In particular, the problem is serious for industries having a long document retention time, such as government departments and financial sector.

A digital document management system allows you to store the documents in a cloud-based server with negligible physical footprint.

2. Saves Business Expenses

A paper-free office will reduce the business costs incurred on paper, printers, toners, files, filing cabinets and office space. Studies have shown that a paperless office has a better process efficiency and can handle a larger volume of documentation than traditional offices, thus making a significant savings in employee time with respect to repetitive tasks like expense reimbursements.

electronic-filing-system

3. Protects the Environment

The production of paper and related products leads to the emissions of greenhouse gases, causes deforestation and precipitates climate change. Paper recycling can reduce the environmental impact of paper in the workplace, but only upto to a certain extent. Employees may engage in group activities, like making paper bags from waste papers, to know the importance of waste reduction at work stations.

In the absence of source segregation, most of the paper ends up in landfills or waste-to-energy plant. In addition, toxic chemicals in inks and toners are detrimental to the health of the environment. The most sustainable solution to all these environmental problems is to transform your workplace into a paperless one.

4. Improves Security

A chronic problem in traditional offices is the hardship in tracking paper-based documents on account of misfiling, accidents etc. Moreover, it is difficult to monitor the access, printing and copying of sensitive business documents. A paperless office has a digital document management system with advanced security features to prevent such incidents by restricting access rights at different levels.

How to Tackle Stress in a Paperless Office?

A paperless office may create stress among employees due to increased exposure to technology. Static work postures may also lead to musco-skeletal health issues. An excellent solution to relieve stress is to use art therapy. But, what is art therapy?

Art therapy is a type of therapy that enriches the life of a person through art-making activities , such as drawing, painting, collage or sculpting. It helps in developing self-awareness, boosting self-esteem, trauma-coping and fostering social skills, under the guidance of a qualified therapist.

Conclusions

A paper-free office will not only save time, natural resources and money but also help in smoother and safer flow of information in an organization, thus helping in quick decision-making and responsible business growth.