From Guest Blogger Kyle O'Brien: How Businesses Can Transition To Paperless Strategies
Going green isn’t a fad anymore ; it’s a way of life for many. From energy supplements to recycling to starting entire businesses around the concept of 100% Eco-friendly products and operations, there’s a growing niche for a “green” consumer and provider alike. Recycling programs are gaining more traction and ground in not just the U.S., but all across the globe.
This infographic here suggests that efforts made by the U.S. (31.5%), while still great, lag behind other recycling rates of countries like Switzerland (52%), Austria (49.7%) and others. But what was more surprising was when the graphic went further down the list on the exact types of materials that were wasted. Between the likes of plastics, metals, wood and other materials that were discarded, the one that took up the bigger percentage? Paper.
Paper is an easy choice, really. From home to the workplace, paper is consumed from grocery sacks to printing paper in the copy room. At the government offices alone, it’s estimated that around $440 million dollars of the $1.3 billion dollars spent on printing is wasteful.
But the good news is, nearly 33% of new paper sources are popping up from recycled means. While that’s a great start, there are still many areas where that percentage can be improved upon. And since we’ve referenced the workplace already, let’s look at how businesses can consider some paperless strategies to work with the rest of their operations. More importantly, how can businesses make a smooth transition to each and every strategy.
Paper For Presentations
It’s no secret that most every business alive has a sufficient amount of meetings and big presentations throughout the year. Packets, graphs and spreadsheets are handed out to each and every person at the roundtable, while the presenter(s) delivers it along the projector. There’s no telling the amount of paper handed out, nor is there a way to properly account for how many people are involved with each meeting. Doesn’t matter. Plenty of paper is consumed, as the figures for the government offices from before showed.
Solution: The one solution that’s rather evident would be to streamline presentations to the digital age even more. Is it safe to assume that every single employee in the meeting hall has a laptop, smartphone or tablet with which to receive and follow the presentation? PowerPoint has become more prominent. GoToMeeting is going to probably revolutionize meetings with every passing day. Quite frankly, this is one area where the paperless strategy for businesses should, and will, take flight.
Training/Introductory Papers For New Hires
Whether you’re a mom-and-pop store or a Fortune 500 company, the new hire process requires a decent amount of paperwork. There’s tax documents, waivers, insurance and paycheck forms, among others, for all new employees to sit down and fill out. And while it may not seem like much for a business of less than 10 people, consider the amount of paperwork and standard training materials needed for companies that employ 500+ workers?
Solution: There are multiple ways to work around this angle. As technology deepens, it gives way to many platforms that could either work alongside minimal paperwork distribution, or outright replace it. For instance, there’s DocuSign, a rather simple way for companies to both handle and store employee signatures with contracts and documents, as well as act as a catalyst for helping seal customer contracts. And most of us have hopefully heard of NeatDesk, which is a great way to scan and save everything from multiple documents to business cards on an employee’s computer. Put a recycling bin within arm’s reach of this, and the NeatDesk can be the middleman, per say, to your recycling efforts.
Also, companies have started taking advantage of online training platforms, whether for their sales team or for upper management and beyond, to help with continued employee performance improvement and the company line all the same.
Direct Deposits
A recent study from the Society For Human Resource Management revealed that close to 48% of businesses have not yet adopted direct deposits in regards to their payroll. Many of the industries that were closely tied to that percentage were retail, food services, repair and maintenance services, construction, wholesale trade, real estate sales, agriculture and transportation. Part of the reason for this percentage could have to do with employees not opting in and just being used to tradition.
Solution: Another simple reason to gradually transition to direct deposits for your company payroll is the savings. The study reveals that businesses are spending, on average, close to $2 to cut and process a hard-copy check, instead of only 35 cents or less that direct deposits account for.
So, let’s say you’re business employs up to 50 people and you go the traditional route for payroll. At $2 per transaction, twice a month, that’s around $2,600 in expenses on the year for a small piece of paper. By going the direct deposit route, where you’re spending at most, 35 cents per transaction, and using the same number of employees, the total expense for this year would be around $455. Therefore, not only does your business expense report show a positive gain in that respect, you’re enacting upon one of the easiest paperless strategies for the foreseeable future.
Final Thoughts
Companies have started turning the corner towards being more proactive with greener initiatives, and paperless strategies for this year and beyond are just some of the ways businesses can help curb spending and concentrate their consumption efforts at the same time.
About the Author: Kyle O’Brien is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to green blogs on topics concerning recycling and eco-friendly initiatives from both a personal and community level. He is also a community manager for an eLearning company, ej4. Learn more from our Google+ and Twitter profiles.
