Earth Day 2022: 5 Ways to Make Your Home Office Eco-Friendly

Though COVID-19 restrictions have lifted across Canada, many businesses have chosen to continue with remote work. It is not surprising given how working from home has proved beneficial for both employers and employees.

By putting an end to daily commutes, remote work also contributes towards reducing our carbon footprint. Fewer vehicles on the roads and lower rates of emission during lockdowns these past two years greatly reduced air and noise pollution in cities across Canada and the world.

If your business has switched to permanent remote work or even a hybrid work model, you are already doing your part in helping clean the air. You can help the environment further by setting up an environmentally friendly home office. To help you do that, we’ve compiled five simple ways you can ensure your home office is kinder to the environment.

Make the most of natural light

If possible, set up your workspace in an area of your house that gets maximum natural light. This will reduce your use of artificial light at work during the day.

You could also choose greener options in artificial lighting, such as LED light bulbs. LEDs are safer for the environment (no toxic mercury), more energy efficient and typically, have a lifetime of 25,000 hours.

Reduce waste

Smart substitutes can help you cut down the waste created in your home office and kitchen. For instance, you could use a whiteboard or a dry erase paint wall to brainstorm or take notes instead of using sticky notes or sheets of paper. Or you could switch to smart notebooks (which are reusable) and do your bit to waste less paper.

Printing both sides, using recycled paper, digital subscriptions to magazines and newspapers are some other ways you can save paper.

Since you are working from home, you could also ditch disposable cups, plates, plastic cutlery, and paper towels for micro-fibre cloths and utensils that can be reused.

Avoid buying bottled water and take your own reusable bags when doing grocery.

Unplug energy devices and switch to smarter options

Devices such as microwaves, TV, and ACs consume power even when they are not in use. Make sure you unplug electronic devices when you are not using them to save energy.

Use laptops instead of desktops as they use less energy. Switch to a smart thermostat that can intuitively adjust the heating and cooling in your house based on occupancy and save you money.

Eat local and seasonal

Now that you work from home, opt for home-cooked meals instead of ordering take-outs. Pick locally sourced, seasonal produce. Not only is it fresher, it has also travelled less distance. It has required less transportation, refrigeration, and packaging, due to which it has a much lower carbon footprint.

Besides eating local and supporting your local farmers, you could also consider reducing your intake of meat. Try one meat-free meal in a day or once a week. This helps the environment as livestock production contributes to 18% of greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide.

Buy second-hand furniture

It is recommended that your home workspace be ergonomically designed to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. You can still source good quality second-hand or refurbished office furniture on sites such as Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji. This would help reduce waste and save you money.

Bonus tip!

Switch to an online staff management software like BrightHR.

You can say goodbye to paper trails, filing cabinets and reduce waste at your physical workplace, too, when you switch to BrightHR. It is a secure, cloud-based HR management software, which is ideal for managing staff remotely.

BrightHR offers unlimited document storage space and can be accessed via mobile too. Read our blog on how BrightHR makes scheduling shifts, marking attendance, and even tracking staff vaccinations convenient for you.

It is the perfect tool to help you manage the unique demands of a remote workplace.

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To get more information on how our software can help you manage your business and remote teams during the COVID-19 pandemic, call us today: 1 (833) 247-3652