5 top tips to motivate staff to be energy efficient

Regardless of the size of your company, one of the biggest expenses that you’re likely to have will revolve around energy cost. Considering the amount of technology that businesses use these days, it’s completely understandable.

Luckily, there are several ways that businesses can save energy with their technological use but it all comes down to a change in behaviour.

Here are 5 top tips that your Australian business can help to motivate energy efficient use in the workplace.

Get staff involved

If there’s a positive way to encourage staff to save energy, it’s getting them involved with the initial brainstorming process. Ask them to come up with ideas and innovative ways to save energy around the workplace. Better yet, why not hire someone to monitor energy use in the office? Elect someone who is a proven motivator to encourage those around them. Maybe ask the staff questions about how they save energy at home that can be easily brought into the office.

Consider using natural light

During the summer months in Australia, some cities have average sunshine hours for around 11 hours per day. Even in the winter for east coast countries, there’s still the pleasure of enjoying between 5-6 hours of daylight per day. So, considering the number of daylight hours available throughout the day, why not make the most of it and let the light into the office. Encourage your staff to open window and drawback blinds whilst they’re working. This prevents the use of artificial lighting and can save you plenty of money during the month.

Explain the benefits

5 Top Tips To Motivate Staff To Be Energy Efficient
Photo: Rawpixel.com, Pexels.

A lot of the time, explaining to individuals the reasons why they do something, the more likely they are to save energy. If you inform them in an appropriate way, they’re more likely to relate to the causes of saving energy. It might also be worth mentioning the benefits of energy saving to the business and the wider environment. According to the NGGI, Australia recorded its highest record emissions in 2018, reaching 558.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide production. This might not be worrying for some, so taking different approaches might be required but there are many benefits to saving energy for businesses.

Create an energy policy

Adding additional marketing around the office to help remind staff members can help to reduce energy better. Whether it’s applying stickers on equipment or posters on the walls will be little reminders that staff members can remember easier. There are days during the year which relate to sustainability such as Ride to School Day and National Recycling Week which can be promoted and have a knock-on effect with other initiatives in the office.

Run projects and competitions

Host recognition events at work for teams that promote or solve energy well. Rewarding those who save energy is likely to encourage others to do the same and provide a domino effect with other teams. If there are any forms of incentives it’s likely to create healthy competition between employees and encourage others to engage.

Communication

Implementing incentives and energy focused campaigns around the office are rather useless if none of the staff are aware of what’s going on. This is why whenever you introduce a campaign, voice the achievements and accomplishments of the office via newsletters and emails. This will help them to acknowledge how far their efforts are going and are likely to continue the trend for the benefit of the business. As always, provide an open platform for employees to introduce further ideas as well as asking them what’s working and what’s not. Constructive feedback is always the best policy to ensure that efforts can continue and grow.

Looking to the future…

Not only should you be acting in the present with these campaigns, but you should also look to the future. For future reference, think about the equipment and supplies that you purchase for the company. Are you able to switch energy suppliers to become more energy efficient? Does the office equipment company that you use created them with sustainable materials? All of these aspects will help build the reputation of your business as a whole and encourage employees internally to do their bit.

Natalie Wilson
Natalie Wilson
Natalie Wilson is a freelance writer and avid decorator and interior designer. She loves discovering home renovation blogs and Instagram accounts and spending her free time shopping. She aims to buy her own home in the next year and begin her very own renovation project! You can connect with her on Twitter @NatWilson976.
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