3 Action Steps Towards a Green Business Program

Most business owners understand that many of their employees would like to include green living habits at their place of employment. These business owners understand that in order to keep costs down and create a sustainable work place, effort has to be set forth. The question becomes, "How do we create greener, sustainable habits in our office, and offer the motivation to do so?" Today, many communities are offering programs to help business go green. However, many of these programs, upon close inspection are really haphazard marketing tools. The savvy consumer who is committed to using their purchasing power to insure their personal values are in place will spot these kinds of marketing ploys immediately. Here are three ways to create a sustainable work place that is customized for your business and will pass the 'smell' test for consumers who will sense green washing a mile away.

• 1) Develop a Green Team: Designate one person, more specifically find that one person who is interested and dedicated to sustainable practices to create a team that can audit the workplace and find the places, routines, and wasteful habits that are working against a green workplace. Don't hire a consultant to help your business go green. It is a waste of money. No one knows your work place better than the people that work there. If professional knowledge is required, do the research yourself. That is what this handy computer and Google are for!
• 2) Set a Time-Based Objective : Once the team has decided what changes need to take place, work up a goal based calendar showing when these changes will be implemented, how long the learning curve should be, what objectives are, and when these objectives should be met. If the new routine will be ongoing, build in monitoring check points to see how effectively the new routine is working.
• 3) Showcase Your Green: If your company and employees have made an authentic commitment to instill sustainable business practices, then it is important to showcase this commitment. Why? Because this commitment to sustainable business practices can advance the concept of finding effective ways to cut down on waste, taking recycling measures, and saving energy. Your commitment to green practices will spread to the families of your employees, your customers and the larger community.

Sustainable business practices are an important and significant way to bring innovative thinking and a cohesive team effort to your business and help save the planet at the same time.