Encouraging Your Employees to Embrace Sustainable Practices

Julie Starr • May 19, 2020



Sustainability at home, on the road, and in the workplace is something that everyone should strive for in the modern world. But not everyone ‘ believes’ in sustainability , either because of the information they seek out, or they are set in their ways. As a business, this can impact your dedication to creating a more sustainable working environment, and so you must encourage all of your employees to embrace sustainable practices.

But they can still be resistant to your encouragement, which can put you in a tricky position. However, it’s not something that you should give up on altogether. Instead, it would be best if you found reliable solutions for encouraging sustainability in your workforce.

Allow Flexible Working
Flexible working is the future and anyone who disagrees risks being left in the past. While the Coronavirus pandemic has caused unsettling ripple effects across the world, with unemployment and business closures, it has also proved to doubters that remote and flexible hours can work. This doesn’t just come at the benefit of the employee, but also the planet. By going into the office less frequently , there will be fewer carbon emissions from petroleum. There will be less waste created at the office, and your employees will save money every month. Even if there are instances where everybody needs to be in the office, carpooling, public transport, or cycling and walking to work are decent alternatives to everyone taking their car.

Provide Work Laptops or Tablets
Many companies still use desktop computers that all connect to a central server in the office. However, desktops need to be plugged in all day long, and in many offices, they are never actually switched off, even over the weekend.

We don’t need to explain why this is a problem. But there is a solution. Using company laptops and tablets will provide a more sustainable solution, and businesses can install the company software and connect it to the intranet to ensure that nothing is lost.

Neither laptops nor tablets need to be plugged in at all times to operate. Furthermore, they are more portable, which means employees can work whenever and wherever, without needing to rely on the office server system.

Minimize Office Space
 Such ideas also translate to reducing office space. While the intranet is a useful thing for many businesses, it’s also becoming more outdated as the years ago on. Cloud storage is the thing that is replacing it, and considering database migration is both simple and effective, it’s something for any business seeking to encourage sustainability should investigate further.

Eliminating dedicated servers in the office and choosing cloud computing will help to reduce how much space each office needs drastically. Furthermore, with remote working, you can half the number of desks and chairs required if only half the team is in all week.

Through this, you will save money on office rental and energy, and that’s what sustainability is all about.

Offer Sustainability Incentives
 Sometimes, people need to feel like they are earning something if they are going to change their ways, even if it is as mutually beneficial as sustainability. By providing incentives to make people change their ways, such as meal vouchers, discount gym memberships, or even big monthly prizes, you may find that more people are willing to explore how they can be more eco-friendly at home and the office.

Creating league tables and encouraging friendly competition will inspire the winning mentality that you need. If one person wants to bike to work three times a week, another may want to do it four times a week. Over time, more people will recognize that such competition is fun, and more people will get on board.

If you offer perks with every milestone that others achieve, you will witness a higher drive to do better. At their core, people can be very simple to understand, and competition is one of the ways to do that.

Don’t Negatively Compare
 Despite this competition, you should also always remember that any efforts made are a good thing. Because of this, it doesn’t matter if someone doesn’t hit their sustainability targets, they should be encouraged to do what they manage regardless.

Not everyone has the opportunity to live a more sustainable life at home or the office, so you should consider this when determining who has performed ‘best’. As there is always the chance of mitigating circumstances at home, it’s never right to scold or demean just because an employee didn’t do as well as they’d hoped.

Not only could this embarrass them, but it could also demotivate them. So, no matter who does what, positive reinforcement and encouragement is the way forward.

Educate and Train
 Often, people ignore embracing sustainable practices because they aren’t sure how to be more eco-friendly. They may try researching by themselves, but as there is so much information out there, it can feel intimidating to try and get through and remember it all.

Again, this can be demotivating and demoralizing. It’s worth offering beginner training for anybody who wants to get involved but doesn’t know where to start. This training shouldn’t be something too serious, and there shouldn’t be a Pass or Fail type of exam at the end. Instead, you can use it to share your knowledge with whoever is interested.

By providing this training free of charge and using infographics , you’ll be able to witness clear and evident changes in staff behavior when it comes to seeking sustainable solutions.

Give An End Goal
Incentives will get people started, but if they don’t believe there is a valuable end goal in sight, they are unlikely to stay motivated for too long. Of course, the primary end goal is to leave a healthier and more livable planet. This reasoning is unlikely to work on everybody, though, and so you need to consider something that appeals closer to them.

Monetary bonuses and increased vacation days could all factor into encouraging people to continue a sustainable approach. They may also look for time at home rather than at the office if flexible working is not a company-wide policy.

You can also look to inspire an emotional response within them if they are struggling to stay motivated while making office-wide promises for pizza parties, and other treats could also give them the drive to keep going.

Lead By Example
 You cannot expect your staff to embrace sustainability if they do not believe that you are as dedicated to the cause as you suggest. Being a leader means leading by example, and therefore you should do what you can to prove to your staff that you are all in this together.

Rather than claim to be more sustainable, you can include yourself on any statistics and leaderboards. Some managers prefer to lead the pack, while others make it seem as though others are overtaking them to boost motivation and see the results they want.

Whichever tactic you choose, it’s vital to show everybody that you are not just talking about sustainability, but also living the lifestyle that you encourage them to follow.

Greener Office Living
 Creating a cleaner and greener office environment is not just something to make the business look good to outsiders. It will also benefit everyone who comes into the office every day. By working together to encourage a greener atmosphere through a variety of measures, you can guarantee that your employees will feel better, be happy, experience less stress, and severely reduce the risk of burnout. Even if it takes them a while to come around to sustainability, they will be convinced once they witness the benefits.

Things to Consider When Creating a New Product

By Julie Starr • 04 May, 2024
If you're thinking about creating a new product for your business there's a lot you need to keep at the forefront of your thoughts. When you have a new idea it can be exciting and you want to jump right in and test whether or not it will bring in some much-needed capital into your business. However, before you forge your head you need to put some brakes on your ideas. This is because you're going to need to go through a few steps to make sure that you are not wasting your time. Here's a look at the things you should do when you want to create a new product. Do Market Research Market research is the first thing you're going to need to do. No matter how great the idea you may have, if there is no demand for it then you're wasting your time and your business capital. You want to do market research to see whether people will be willing to buy your product. Once you have validated that there are customers for it you can move on to the next step. Unique Selling Proposition In the next stage of the entire process, you're going to look at the unique selling propositions of your product. How is it different from what is already out there? Why should someone buy it as opposed to another product? You have to make sure that you have some kind of innovative features that are superior in quality that will catch your customers' eyes and get them to reach into their wallets. Product Design and Development The next thing you're going to do is to make sure that you put a design and developmental system in place. This is the only way that you're going to end up with a high-quality product to put on the market. You may have to get other people to assist you or select the employees that are skilled to help create the product. If you have to do the creation of a product that requires a lab, you can use lab facilities that are located in your area. In some cases, you might have to get manufacturing help from outside of the country but with all the communication technology available this should be a breeze. Do a Cost Analysis You're going to need to do a cost analysis of the product that you are creating. You don't want to have to empty your company's piggy bank to create a product. You need to make sure that you are going to make enough of a profit based on what you will be spending to actually create the product in the first place. You don't want to shoot yourself in the foot. It's up to you to make sure that you're going to get back every penny that you are spending and then some. The type of products that you are creating should create a sense of excitement in your existing customer base. You do a survey and find out if excitement is bubbling up in them to see a new product. This can gauge how successful it will be.

6 Effective Ways To Offer Value To Customers

By Julie Starr • 02 May, 2024
Understanding that acquiring new customers can cost up to five times more than retaining them empowers you to make strategic decisions. If you're not offering value to your customers, you won't be able to retain existing ones or attract new ones. In a world where there are seemingly a million customers all offering the same thing, standing out above the noise and offering value to your customers can boost retention. Look At What You Do Well To offer value and identify the reasons why people do business with you or what makes them choose you, take pride in what you do well. Where do you excel? What entices people? What are you most proud of? It is in these areas that you find value and get a better idea of what customers want and expect. Improve Your Brand Image and Perception How people see and perceive your brand will show them what you have to offer and can be a great way to help people connect with your brand. Be clear about who you are and what you represent. It might be that your whole company is built on sustainability, and if people know this and can align with your beliefs, then you can develop a relationship with them based on mutual goals and ideals. Take some time to see what your brand perception is and what message you are putting out there about who you are, and if it doesn't wholly represent you, then you can work on changing this so the message is clear and representative of what the company is about. This can be a great way to offer people value and something another brand provides. Improved Quality The quality of what you should always be top-notch, but you can still go a little extra. It doesn't matter if you're selling whole podcasts, parts, repairs, or services; the level of quality received by the customers for the price point will often play a massive factor in whether or not they will make another purchase or become a regular customer. Even if you don't offer anything else that seems exemplary, if people are more than satisfied with the output level, you can guarantee they will definitely be back. So whether you upgrade the quality of your ingredients for food and drink-based products, offer additional content or support for your services, or outsource to machine shops for fabrication requirements, improve the quality of what you do to give you that edge over competitors. Provide A Positive Experience Value isn't always about something you offer for a price point; it's about the experience as a whole and, oftentimes, the things you don't do. By providing all customers with a positive experience , you can leave a lasting impression in their minds that they really enjoyed their contact with your company. This will help to ensure they come back to you time and again, feeling they have received a good service and this is of value to them. Many customers want to know their business is appreciated, and you can do this by ensuring that each and every interaction with your company is a smooth, positive one that requires little to no effort with a good payoff at the end of the transaction. Quality Over Price Sure, you can go out there and undercut your competitors, but this tactic isn't always the best, nor does it work for everyone. However, what you can do is emphasize the quality of the product and justify its price point. Even if it's slightly more expensive than your competitors, you can win people over by showing exactly what they're getting for their money and why it's worth its price tag. Don't be tempted to hike the price point up to give it an air of superior quality. You still need to be pricing realistically; however, by focusing on the benefits of the value of what you're offering over the price, you can show people lie in purchasing from you. Educate customers By offering tutorials, demonstrations, trial products or services, FAQs, and practical assistance, you not only offer a good value product or service but also give customers a chance to learn more about you, what you do, what you stand for, and what your company is all about.  This, in turn, along with good customer service and knowledgeable representatives, will offer your customers value as they will be able to understand your product or service better and know you're investing in our product and that you care about their experience. There are many ways to offer value to customers besides discounts or freebies. Any of these options can directly benefit your business and require little outlay.
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