Reducing Your Office Size for a Greener Business

The average office uses a lot of resources that add to the business's carbon footprint. From office resources such as paper and printer ink to the use of electricity, an office takes a lot to keep it running. However, a smaller office can help to reduce your carbon emissions and make your business more eco-friendly. Some businesses can even find that they are able to drop the traditional office altogether and instead focus on remote working or the use of shared facilities and coworking spaces. If you want to make your business more eco-friendly, there are various things that you could do to reduce the size of your office or even remove the need for one.

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Make Use of Remote Working

Remote working has grown significantly in the last year and it's set to continue growing. Although many people have been returning to their traditional offices when they are able to, employers are seeing the benefits of allowing remote working at least some of the time. Remote working can offer your business much more flexibility, allowing you to hire who you want. It also means you have a much lower need for a traditional office space. You might have a core team that is office-based who carries out some of the most essential tasks while other staff works remotely. Or you could focus on remote working entirely and ditch the idea of an office.

Allow Flexible Working

Flexible working can also help you to reduce the size of your office. If you allow people to come in at different times and to perhaps work from home or elsewhere some of the time, you don't have to have permanent desk spaces for everyone. People can share desks and other space and you can reduce the number of people who are in the office at any one time. Reducing the size of your office in this way can allow you to save energy and perhaps reduce the use of other resources too, from water to paper.

Outsource Tasks

Reducing the number of staff that you need to have will reduce the size of the office that you require. By outsourcing some of your tasks, you can cut down on how many people need to be in your office and how many office resources they need to use. If you get yourself a virtual receptionist instead of having someone in your office to answer phones, you can reduce energy use, desk space required, and costs. When you use an existing company, you're not using up any resources that aren't already being used by that company. You're sharing them with other businesses who use their services, making it more economical and eco-friendly.

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Create a Paperless Office

Too much paper in your office is not only bad for the environment on its own but it can also take up a lot of space. When you rely on paper documents and records, you need to have somewhere to file away important items. This can lead to the need for filing cabinets and even whole rooms full of essential documents. Instead of doing this, going digital will reduce the need for a large office that houses all of your papers. You can keep important documents on your cloud storage system instead of having them taking up physical space in your office.

Maximize Use of Space

Being able to make good use of less space is another good way to cut down on how much office space you need. Whether you think you might need to upgrade to a larger office or you're wondering how to downsize to a smaller one, there are lots of ways to maximize your use of space. Desk layout can be one thing to consider if you want to avoid using up too much space unnecessarily. Firstly, think about how many desks you really need, especially if you have flexible workers who are not always there. You can also make space work twice as hard by having it be dual-purpose.

Use Shared Spaces

If you don't need a dedicated private office but do need somewhere permanent to work from, consider using shared spaces such as coworking spaces. These can allow you to hire a number of desks or even a separate office, or you can simply hire a meeting room when you need one. It offers a more flexible way to work and to share resources with other businesses for greater eco-efficiency.

A smaller office could be the key to saving on office costs and also making your office greener than ever.