While families use plenty of paper at home, the entities that go through vast amounts of paper waste the most frequently are businesses. Between billing procedures, employee pay and in-office files and documentation, workplaces can go through thousands of individual pieces of paper per employee a year. If you are looking to embrace a more environmentally friendly work space, there are plenty of strategies you can implement to significantly reduce your company’s paper waste. Consider using some of the approaches listed below.

Assess Your Usage

To begin your journey into a more environmentally friendly workplace, you will first need to evaluate your present situation. Attempt to acquire some data regarding present paper usage in the office to help determine what adjustments in what areas will be most effective in limiting your company’s paper waste. For businesses with a significant number of employees who get paid weekly, implementing paperless pay may help reduce your company’s contribution to paper waste a notable amount. In addition to looking into paper that is distributed to employees and customers, you will want to evaluate how much paper is being used for internal communications and presentations. Help narrow down areas that could use the most improvement to figure out what you should focus on first.

Communicate Your Intentions

Ensure that your intentions to significantly reduce paper waste is communicated to your leadership team and the overall employee base. Express the importance of this endeavor and how it can lead to beneficial changes in the workplace. Aim to express intentions in a positive and progressive manner, highlighting the ease and convenience that many paperless systems can provide. Encourage your leadership team to remain open to feedback and to maintain strong lines of communication to ensure that this message is properly understood by employees within your organization.

Use Cloud Storage Systems

Through using online storage methods and file sharing, your company can cut back on much of its paper waste that is dedicated to internal communication. Have dedicated IT professionals implement and teach the usage of cloud storage systems and file sharing to your staff. Advise staff to share files digitally instead of printing them out for distribution. This will help lower unnecessary paper usage within the office while also streamlining the process of file sharing and distribution among staff members.

Use Online Pay Stubs

Look into various options for online pay stubs that will allow employees to view time card and pay information without requiring a physical pay stub for each paycheck. In addition to help lowering your company’s paper waste, this will often allow employees to quickly and easily access payment information without having to locate and reference a physical pay stub. Employees will be able to easily and quickly track their wages on a daily basis which will help lower the number of potential errors with staff pay.

Encourage Paperless Billing

Implement paperless billing options for your customers. To help encourage all of your customer base to switch over to e-bills, ensure that your electronic billing system is easy to use, easy to read and quickly accessible. Make sure consumers are able to access an archive of their billing history easily to promote the convenience of paperless billing.

Incorporate Electronic Signature Software

Promote the use of electronic signature software when it comes to both internal and external documentation. In addition to cutting down on unnecessary paper waste, this will allow your company to easily keep digitally signed records on file with data backups set in place to ensure its safety.

Place Scanners in Office

At times, your employees may have physical documents that they need to distribute to others even though they don’t have a digital version of it. Ensure that you have an adequate number of scanners in your office so that employees can easily and quickly scan physical documents to digital files, such as PDF. Encourage your employees to always scan to PDF so that documents can be digitally distributed instead of making more physical copies with the copier.

Use Presentation Software

For meetings and presentations, incorporate the use of presentation software to avoid the unnecessary usage of paper for meeting notes and handouts. There are many software programs that allow presenters to efficiently showcase a variety of media and material to their audience in addition to issuing digital documentation that can be privately viewed by each attending staff member. As an added bonus, many of these options will allow your company to consider incorporating remote attendance for meetings as well. Employees will be able to share material without sharing the same physical space through the use of team presentation software, many of which comes with additional tools that make brainstorming a breeze.

Encourage Digital Communication

Advise employees to engage in the use of digital communication instead of relying on traditional methods of paper memos from one office to another. In addition to email, your company can use a multitude of instant messaging systems, online forums and project management software to help facilitate efficient and paper-free communication in the office. An extra benefit of using digital methods of communication instead of paper is that employees can commonly maintain an easily accessed record of exchanges. This gives employees the opportunity to quickly and efficiently reference previous discussions through the use of search terms and digital navigation instead of having to sift through a multitude of physical documents in a filing cabinet.

Use Recycled Paper

When you do have to use paper in the office, go out of your way to use recycled material when you can. There are plenty of options when it comes to recycled paper that will help keep your company on an environmentally friendly track.

Avoid Disposable Paper Products

Avoid distributing disposable paper products such as paper cups and plates. Encourage employees to bring reusable containers by providing a washing and drying area for dishes brought from home. Eliminate the use of paper towels in restrooms by providing hand dryers instead.

By eliminating paper waste, your business can play a big part in helping the globe. Implement some of the changes listed above to save money and protect the environment sooner rather than later.