Sustainability in the work space: This is how powerful office managers are.
As a freelancer, I get around a lot and I feel very fortunate to be able to see how sustainability shows up in the workspace. It’s sometimes shocking to see how even the most sustainably-minded businesses don’t have the simplest sustainability practices in place.
Not long ago, I got offered tea in a single-use cup by a so-called environmentally conscious startup.
I feel we can all do better.
In my opinion, it’s the office managers who have a great power to make our workspaces more sustainable.
And so I sometimes wonder why more office managers don’t apply their power of inspiring and educating a whole team of people. All it takes are just a few little changes.
I’d love to offer this as a consulting service and help teams become more sustainable in their workplaces. Yet, should this service not pick up, I’m also happy to just share ideas to make sustainability a lived value and not just a term that’s used as a marketing buzzword. Please forward this article to your office manager or your friend who works as one. Just tell them it’s got some good ideas.
Sustainable utilities
Green energy
We all make a decision about the energy provider we choose for our homes. Yet which provider we support is a decision we can also make at the office. Switching energy providers won’t take longer than maybe 20 minutes, but it has a great environmental impact. So, if sustainability is something you or someone on your team cares about, it’s time to make that switch. It’s easy.
Energy-efficient light bulbs
Growing up in the post-communist Czech Republic, I was used to seeing my family buy things in bulk. Just because you never knew when, for example, light bulbs would be available again. If you’re in charge of buying supplies such as light bulbs, why not opt for energy-efficient bulbs instead of the regular ones? You can buy in bulk so there won’t be a need to buy the regular ones for a while.
Default printer settings
I’ll never forget my first day on the job at the agency Loop in Salzburg. My supervisor said: “We only ever print invoices.” We both laughed, but I quickly learned it was actually true. The agency was fully digital, so we didn’t use much paper at all. Yet there are businesses (and people) that are used to copying and printing A LOT! It makes a great impact if the default settings are set to double-sided printing and black and white instead of color and single-page only. You could cut your environmental impact and costs by half with a small change to the default settings of your printing and copying machines.
Sustainable hygiene
Toilet paper choice
You can buy toilet paper at the supermarket or you can opt for a toilet paper delivery service that uses recycled paper or bamboo and forgo plastic altogether. Pure Planet Club, The Cheeky Panda, Smooth Panda, and Who Gives A Crap? are just a few options. And, if you really want to make a difference, you can also place HappyPo showers in your bathroom or even install the Asian solution in case you have a water supply near your toilet and would like to cleverly forgo the wet wipes that are clogging our water systems and polluting our environment.
Menstrual hygiene products
It’s a thoughtful touch when you enter an office bathroom and there are tampons and pads available for women who might need them. However, it’s your choice what brand you opt to use. Mainstream brands are full of bleach and dioxins, so you might want to look for sustainable hygiene products such as Yoni.Care or Einhorn period products.
Solid soaps are hygienic, too!
At Roamers, one of the trendiest cafés in Berlin, they used to have soaps that made me love using their bathroom. It was a cedar wood soap attached as a wall fixture. As you touched the soap with your wet hands, you’d feel the sensation of the rough cedarwood and, because the soap was attached to the wall, it wouldn’t spill out of your hand or lie in its own foam, making it feel unhygienic. And so I asked what brand the soap was. Lucky you, you can easily order it online! It’s Provendi soaps – and let me tell you they are beautiful and more sustainable, and they’ll save you and your team a great amount of single-use plastic.
Sustainable by design
Recycling facilities
How we deal with trash is a learned behavior we acquired at home as kids. We don’t question it. Providing the team with enough recycling bins and also explaining how to recycle at the office as part of the onboarding can lower your company’s environmental impacts significantly.
Separating compost
Food waste makes up about 50% of consumer waste, and not separating it from the landfill causes methane, which is 21x more potent than carbon dioxide. By teaching your staff how to separate food waste and explaining why it’s important, you’ll hopefully not just cut your team’s environmental impact, your efforts might also lead to a ripple effect and impact the families and friends of your staff, too.
Sustainable catering
Fairtrade, organic coffee
Who doesn’t love a good cup of coffee? It’s the fuel most teams depend on, not just to give them energy but also as social fuel since teams usually meet and mingle around their coffee machine. But the coffee industry is known for child labor and exploitation of farmers. Services such as the Coffee Circle specialize in B2B coffee subscription and ensure the coffee your team drinks can be enjoyed with a good conscience.
Office snacks
Many offices provide their employees with free fruit and snacks, and there are businesses that focus on providing offices with mainstream products mostly produced by the 10 companies that control the food industry and that are responsible for Amazon deforestation, unethical marketing practices, and more.
With local farmer delivery services for fruit and companies such as Too Good To Go, Sirplus, and similar, you could provide your team with sustainable snacks and simultaneously support your local community.
Replace your company’s vending machine with water fountains and syrups
WeWork became famous because they had beer on tap and because their water canister featured neatly cut lemons and oranges. No one ever became famous for providing their employees with a regular drink vending machine.
If you’re in charge of providing your employees with drinks, get proper water fountains, and for the employees with a sweet tooth, provide them with syrups. I’m sure if you look internally for someone who’d even like to make them, you’ll definitely find a DIY-loving chef who’ll be happy to cook up some homemade syrup. Or, just like with the fruit and snacks, you can order syrups from a local farmer, too!
Zero-waste food delivery
In the U.S., select companies and universities started offering reusable takeaway dishes that can be returned like books in libraries. People can just throw the dish into a collecting machine. In Germany, Vytal has been offering catered lunches to offices and coworking spaces that come in reusable bowls.
If you can’t find a company like Holy Bowly in your city, why not approach the catering service you’d like to order from and request reusable bowls. I’m sure sooner or later you’ll find someone who’ll be up for the experiment, especially if they know you’ll be a regular customer. The bigger the team you’re taking care of the more power you have when it comes to making your suppliers make more sustainable choices.
Vegan catering – don’t make it an afterthought
I used to be very shy about going vegan, but the longer I’ve been vegan the less I care about what people think. So, having a reputation for knowing the trendiest restaurants, I started to take my friends to vegan places I knew would take their breath away. I’ve never had anyone say to me while eating their (vegan) food, “You know this would be much better if there was chicken.” It’s because there is a difference between mainstream cooks preparing vegan dishes and vegans making vegan dishes.
With the environmental crises we’re facing, it’s no longer acceptable to see the vegan option as an afterthought. Especially because current practices in animal agriculture are to blame for most of the environmental catastrophes, such as global warming.
If you’re in charge of ordering the company’s event catering, get a vegan caterer and don’t tell anyone the caterer is vegan. Once the food’s on the table, people won’t notice anyway. And even if they comment on it, I assure you, a good vegan caterer will impress them anyway. I’ve been playing this card for several years now because all caterings I’ve organized on behalf of my clients have always been vegan and it’s never been a topic.
Sustainable employee perks
Water bottles in the welcome package
Employee welcome packages make a great impression on the people who’re just starting out at your company. I remember always being impressed if I got my business cards on my first day. I definitely felt much more valued.
I’ve realized that what’s inside the employee welcome package can make a great impression and establish your company’s values with new employees.
Including a water bottle in your welcome package – which you can get branded, too! – will make your team drink from their bottle. Especially if you provide them with a good water fountain and maybe even some syrups or infused water options. Dopper bottles are, for example, dishwasher safe, easy to clean, and you can have your company’s logo printed on them as well.
Bikes as a company bonus
I’ve seen companies that give their employees a special gift after a certain period. Whether it’s watches or sneakers, having perks motivates many people and increases your employees’ loyalty, too! You can encourage your team’s choices by giving them a bike and maybe also offer training to make them feel comfortable with the idea of commuting to the office via bike.
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I hope this article inspired you to rethink some of the basic decisions you make for your team. If you’d like me to help you figure out an individual sustainability plan for your office, I’m happy to jump on a call or consult in person and help you choose local suppliers as well. You can reach me via hello@mkanokova.com.
Let’s make sustainability a common practice at the office.
