L3 Sustainability in Services and General Office Practices PDF

L3 Sustainabilit y in Services and General Office Practices Service organizations Often struggle to understand how they can implement sustainability in a meaningful way. Since they have no smokestacks coming out of their offices, many organizations will concentrate on dutifully recycling paper a...

L3 Sustainabilit y in Services and General Office Practices Service organizations Often struggle to understand how they can implement sustainability in a meaningful way. Since they have no smokestacks coming out of their offices, many organizations will concentrate on dutifully recycling paper and powering down computers at night. These green team initiatives do make a difference. Often their biggest effects come not from how they perform their work but from the impact their choices have on others. For example, architects’ impacts are less about their paper and more about the buildings they design. Globally, the service sector is considered crucial for trade and economic growth.  Cleaning up your own operations and Service ‘walking the talk’; organizations Managing the ripple effects of the produce products services you offer too, and Monitoring strategic threats to your sustainability stakeholders, image or business opportunities model; can be found in Capitalizing on emerging these four areas: opportunities to become a sustainable, values-driven organization. Impact of Services organizations internal operations Typically, the impact of your internal operations will be a fraction of the impact you have outside your organization. As just mentioned, the amount of energy and materials used by an architectural firm is dwarfed by the energy and materials used in the buildings they design. While improving external operations results in a higher financial return than cleaning up internal operations, there are many non-financial reasons to focus first on improving your own operations. Prioritizing sustainability goals Leadership’s commitment, compassion and competence leads to an engaged workforce that understands the purpose for the improvements and feels empowered to contribute. Support an organizational culture that has a true sustainable mission and goals. many of the internal actions can result in a larger, more systematic impact. Customer loyalty and satisfaction are directly linked to employees’ level of participation in sustainable activities at work. The programme, called ‘CodeGreen’, includes many opportunities for employees to take an active role in sustainability actions and also includes a digital platform encouraging organizational transparency, connection and competition between their many properties.  Cleaning up your own operations and Service ‘walking the talk’; organizations Managing the ripple effects of the produce products services you offer too, and Monitoring strategic threats to your sustainability stakeholders, image or business opportunities model; can be found in Capitalizing on emerging these four areas: opportunities to become a sustainable, values-driven organization.  Strategies You Can Use Clean up your operations Facilities - Energy efficiency Energy efficiency is the first place to look for measures that will save costs. Unfortunately, some businesses lease office space and so may not have separate electric meters. That means the savings may go first to the landlord, who may or may not allow those savings to trickle down to tenants. If you own and operate your building, conducting an energy audit can yield significant opportunities to save money. If you lease, try to get your landlord to improve the sustainability of the building. Energy efficiency: Examples TriMet, the transit authority for Portland, Oregon, posted its electricity bill in the elevator, without entreaties or comment. When employees saw how much they spent on energy, they modified their behaviour. The electricity bill dropped by 20 per cent the next month! Washington Park Zoo in Oregon allows their employees to bring to work items that are difficult to recycle at home: compact fluorescent bulbs, batteries, etc. Since these items are added to the zoo’s considerable pile from their own operations, the quantities are adequate to get them easily recycled. The Bullitt Center in Seattle, Washington, currently holds the title of the ‘greenest commercial building in the world’. Requires building tenants to take part in facility-wide sustainability initiatives. Tenants must monitor and control energy use to meet annual budgets set by the Center. must agree not to buy office furniture that contains toxic materials and must position each worker’s desk within thirty feet of the Center’s huge windows to ensure access to daylight and fresh air. Tenants are encouraged to bus, bike or walk to work, to use the stair-case instead of the elevator, and to open their facility to the public for educational purposes. When energy reduction goals are accomplished, the Center passes a portion of these savings on to tenants in the form of rent credits. Strategies You Can Use Clean up your operations Facilities - Purchasing Policies Where price points alone used to drive purchasing decisions, sustainable businesses are being much more deliberate and intentional in their decisions. When making decisions about any purchase, one must think carefully about the entire life cycle of the product, from the sourcing of the product to considerations around what happens to the product after it is discarded. Purchasing managers may also consider quantity over quality decisions. For example: does it make more sense to have many small printers or a few large multifunction machines? Should you buy a large quantity of cheaper but more inefficient light bulbs or invest in LEDs or other technologies that cost more but have a significantly longer lifespan? Do you purchase equipment from manufacturers that have a product stewardship strategy, creating a use for the product or components at the end of its life? Are your suppliers making a concerted effort to dispose of or repurpose their product at end of life, or are they just passing that responsibility on to you? Likewise, if you donate usable equipment to non-profit organizations or schools, are you passing along that same responsibility? Manage your paper purchasing decisions closely. Paperless Project Consider these findings from the Paperless Project, a grass-roots coalition of companies focused on transforming the way organizations work with paper and electronic content: The average office worker uses approximately 10,000 sheets of copy paper every year. 15 per cent of an organization’s revenues are spent creating, managing and distributing documents. 60 per cent of employee time is spent working with documents. 85 per cent of business documents are in paper form. The average document is printed five times. 90 per cent of a business’s information is in documents. At $30 per hour, knowledge workers waste $4,500 per year working with paper.  Cleaning up your own operations and Service ‘walking the talk’; organizations Managing the ripple effects of the produce products services you offer too, and Monitoring strategic threats to your sustainability stakeholders, image or business opportunities model; can be found in Capitalizing on emerging these four areas: opportunities to become a sustainable, values-driven organization. Managing Ripple Effects Often, the biggest impact of a service organization is not what it does itself but how it affects the behaviour and choices of its employees and customers. When architects design a building and specify materials, their impacts go far beyond their blueprints. Their decisions determine the fate of the energy use of the building, the health of forests used for lumber, the air quality the building inhabitants will breathe and water quality in surrounding streams. When bankers decide to fund a home or business, their impacts far exceed the paper the loan is printed upon, as we learned in 2008 when the reality of the sub-prime mortgage crisis sent the US economy hurtling towards economic depression. Bankers’ decisions affect the quality of life in the community, traffic congestion, opportunities for minorities and insurance costs shared by many. When a large superstore of a major chain locates on the edge of town and provides acres of free parking, it affects driving patterns, air quality, green-house gas emissions and the vitality of the town centre. Businesses simply do not exist in a vacuum. Their decisions lead to both intended and unintended consequences that can have a significant impact on their employees, their com-munities, their industry and beyond. Take Responsibility for Your Ripples Some businesses choose However, you can often to ignore their impacts differentiate yourself on others and will simply and build your brand dismiss their relevance by image by ensuring your calling them impacts are positive ‘externalities’. instead of negative. ‘Externalities’ can catch With the rise of conscious up with you eventually consumerism, the public is and can result in poor increasingly holding public opinion or costly businesses accountable regulation. for their ripple effects. Starbucks Starbucks is working to create a reliable market for fair trade, shade-grown coffee. In partnership with Conservation International, Starbucks developed its own CAFE (Coffee and Farmer Equity) goals, intended to create a sustainable livelihood for coffee farmers and to ensure a supply of coffee that meets these standards for the long term. Using this in combination with Fair Trade certification allowed Starbucks to claim that 86 per cent of its coffee was ‘ethically sourced’ in 2011, even though only 8.1 per cent was certified Fair Trade that year. This strategy is good for Starbucks in helping the company ensure supply of their products even as there are risks associated with climate change. It’s a good marketing move as well, as customers are becoming more interested and demanding of socially and environmentally conscious products. Adopting and pursuing their CAFE goals has resulted in many positive ripples for coffee farmers, who have experienced increased employment levels and increased access to medical treatment, education and potable water. Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, is an organization that manages its ripple effects well and is a fine example of how beneficial it is to include sustainability in core organizational values. ‘At Virginia Mason, we believe the “first do no harm” doctrine extends not only into how we treat patients, but also in how we impact the air they breathe and the soil where their food is grown. We see it as a commitment to our patients, their families, and future generations of their families’. Strategically, Virginia Mason’s award-winning environmental stewardship initiative, EnviroMason, has solidified the medical centre as an industry leader in waste reduction, energy conservation, local sourcing and employee engagement.  is a prime example of a business that differentiates itself from other landscaping services by considering the ripples of its work. Owners Colin McCrate and Brad Halm created SUFCo The Seattle to help residential and commercial customers grow their own organic food. Urban Farm SUFCo provides a service that is centred on health and self-sufficiency. Company Both owners take time apart from their day-to-day work to engage and educate the public on sustainability issues such as non-toxic building materials, the (SUFCo) benefits of hyper-local sourcing and fostering a greater appreciation for farmers everywhere. Their mission is to create not only beautiful landscapes, but beautifully productive landscapes, creating a more positive ripple effect than that of your average landscaper.  Cleaning up your own operations and Service ‘walking the talk’; organizations Managing the ripple effects of the produce products services you offer too, and Monitoring strategic threats to your sustainability stakeholders, image or business opportunities model; can be found in Capitalizing on emerging these four areas: opportunities to become a sustainable, values-driven organization.  Monitoring Strategic Threats Service providers must consider the impact of sustainability on matters key to their business: customers, images , foundation factors for businesses. In some cases, sustainability-related trends may threaten the foundation of your business. Service providers should consider the positive and negative effects of sustainability on both their image and impact. Sustainability initiatives can best be incorporated into the overall culture and brand of an organization to avoid the risk of being accused of greenwashing. Walking the line between effectively promoting your company’s strategic initiatives and making mistakes that leave you open for criticism can be quite difficult, however, as some companies have discovered. Restaurants Restaurants in particular have been both applauded and criticized for their environmental and social impacts, especially fast-food restaurants and chains. threat of climate change. Perhaps the largest strategic threat facing businesses today is the threat of climate change. threat of climate change. The insurance industry in particular is extremely concerned about how climate change is affecting its customers. While insurance companies rely on averaging out risk levels based on historical data, recent changes in weather patterns have made it more difficult to predict the disasters that impact insurance companies’ profits. These risks will be passed on to some consumers in the form of higher premiums but will actually result in lower premiums in some areas as risks change.  Cleaning up your own operations and Service ‘walking the talk’; organizations Managing the ripple effects of the produce products services you offer too, and Monitoring strategic threats to your sustainability stakeholders, image or business opportunities model; can be found in Capitalizing on emerging these four areas: opportunities to become a sustainable, values-driven organization. Bringing sustainability bring opportunities Evergreen Cooperatives, based in Cleveland, Ohio, is a co-op of co-ops, essentially. Formed as a network of like- minded, employee-owned businesses, Evergreen works to create job and economic opportunity in the region, while maintaining sustainability, localism and education as core values. Chipotle Chipotle is among a growing group of traditionally structured businesses that are thinking outside of their immediate and short-term business goals to support initiatives that will assist their business in the long term. Chipotle has been a very public supporter of sustainable agriculture and operations through their Food With Integrity initiative. The company states that they are committed to naturally raised meat, are against bovine growth hormones and are moving into using environmentally friendly design in their restaurants whenever possible. Their restaurant in Gurnee, Illinois, is the ‘first ever restaurant to receive platinum certification – the highest level – in the Leadership in Energy and Environ-mental Design (LEED) rating system’. The company is also working to include sustainable design in all new restaurants to lower their environmental impact. Design features include erosion and pollution control during construction, locating close to public transportation, including bike racks and maximizing water and energy efficiency. In the Gurnee restaurant, they managed to reduce water use by 40 per cent and optimized energy performance by 17.5 per cent, mainly by installing Energy Star–rated kitchen equipment, using LED lighting rather than incandescent and designing an efficient HVAC system. They also installed a 6-kilowatt wind turbine on-site that provides 7.5 per cent of the restaurant’s energy. Considering the ability to implement these plans as an opportunity rather than a way to react to risks has allowed Chipotle to gain positive public relations and loyalty For example, in 2013 the Potawatomi tribe of Wisconsin launched a food waste-to-energy biodigester project, which will produce 2 megawatts of power that will be sold into the grid – enough to supply 1,500 typical homes. The tribe is hoping to use it to power operation of its nearby casino and hotel and to supply it with waste from those businesses. This opportunity not only prevents twenty trucks worth of food waste each day from going to the landfill, but it also supplies additional income to the community. Daily Table Store in Boston. Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s, is launching the Daily Table Store in Boston. Daily Table will take food that’s not perfect, that grocery stores would normally just throw away, and resell it or use it to prepare meals for sale. This reduces food waste and the expenses that go along with dealing with waste; it also provides economic opportunity through a sustainable business. Food waste can be consumed by critters too. WonderCycle WonderCycle produces Wonder Treats, a dog treat made from the waste left over from making artisan juices. By partnering with juicing companies, WonderCycle lowers their amount of waste headed to the landfill and creates a unique product for socially and sustainably minded customers. Of course, food waste isn’t the only opportunity to take a waste product and create business opportunities. TerraCycle Ecover Companies such as TerraCycle collect difficult-to-recycle packaging and products, repurposing the material into affordable, innovative products such as backpacks, furniture, gardening supplies and toys. The Belgian company Ecover recently announced they would be making their packaging from plastics harvested from the gyres of waste in the sea. making their packaging from plastics harvested from the gyres of waste in the sea. discover new markets Sustainability may also help your business discover new markets. Economically speaking, the world can be divided into three sectors: the consumer economy (one billion people); emerging markets (two billion people); and the survival economy (three billion people). sustainability and marketing to 3 world rd Traditionally, business has focused predominantly on the first two, ignoring half the world. Every consumer will want a cellphone so product designers should be asking: why does every model of cellphone need its own unique charger? The charger is not a distinguishing feature. Imagine the savings in resources and waste, as well as savings to the consumer, if there were one universal charger? Many will also want their own personal transportation. Because fossil fuels will become more scarce and costly, companies who want to serve these emerging consumers will need to find sustainable solutions to power these cars. As for constrained water resources... can we develop waterless detergents? Can we breed rice that grows without water? Strategies You Can Use Identify sustainability initiatives that will be good for the planet but will be good for your company’s bottom line as well. There may be energy efficiencies, building changes and other strategic decisions that you can make to protect the planet, improve perceptions of your business and lead to increased sales. Consider what partnerships your business is able to foster to create both economic and social benefits. Examine the waste that your business produces. Are you able to reclaim that waste and create an economic opportunity? Or find a partner Use awho is able value to turn yourstrategy innovation waste into a product? around sustainability. Value innovation, also called Blue Ocean Strategy, ‘is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost, creating a leap in value for both buyers and the company’. 29 What problems need addressing in society, and how can your business step up to address those problems in a sustainable manner? Table 3.1 S-CORE: Services and Office Practices Refer to ‘How to Use the Self-Assessments’ in the Introduction. Incubator Initiative (3 Integrated Point Practice (1 point) points) (9 points) s Strategy: Develop a Sustainability is part of Actively work to Develop a formal formal strategic and affect business business case business planning customers, strategy for adopting processes; sustainability suppliers and related to sustainability is seen as an important others in your sustainability and take initial element of your industry to solve that identifies steps to organization’s sustainability- your implement the competitive advantage. related opportunities insights. problems. and threats. Table 3.1 S-CORE: Services and Office Practices Refer to ‘How to Use the Self-Assessments’ in the Introduction. Integrate Incubator (1 Initiative (3 d (9 Point Practice point) points) points) s Service Conduct a sustainability Redesign service to Change the Delivery: analysis of your core eliminate or offset all major service delivery Embed service and identify external impacts and engage such that sustainabilit sustainable targets for all in activities to mitigate customers y into the major impacts. Work on common, negative side change their core service. at least one sustainability effects from the delivery of behaviour to initiative per year. your product or service. support sustainability.  Table 3.1 S-CORE: Services and Office Practices Refer to ‘How to Use the Self-Assessments’ in the Introduction. Practice Incubator (1 Initiative (3 Integrated (9 points) Points point) points) Office Supplies and Select a couple Have a system in 80% or more of office Equipment: Minimize of targeted place for routinely supplies and equipment impacts associated with purchasing assessing the come from sustainable office supplies, categories and impacts of sources (i.e. from a certified furnishings and identify more purchases and sustainable source, 100% equipment. sustainable are working on post-consumer waste, options. finding better recyclable, product take- options. back).  Table 3.1 S-CORE: Services and Office Practices Refer to ‘How to Use the Self-Assessments’ in the Introduction. Incubator Initiative (3 Integrated (9 Practice (1 point) points) points) Points Energy: At least every Have a system in Achieve climate Improve five years, place for monitoring neutrality for energy conduct an and communicating electricity, heating efficiency energy audit on energy efficiency, and cooling (e.g. via and office operations including behavioural generating energy, transition to and act on the changes. Purchase purchasing 100% renewables. results. 25% or more green power or (See related renewable power (or purchasing carbon practices in the equivalent carbon offsets). Chapter 7.) offsets).  Table 3.1 S-CORE: Services and Office Practices Refer to ‘How to Use the Self-Assessments’ in the Introduction. Integrate Incubator (1 Initiative Practice d (9 Points point) (3 points) points) Transportation: Encourage alternative Offer Be climate Actively promote the transportation for incentives to neutral for all reduction of climate commuting through contractors organizational impacts associated incentives and other and customers transportation with transportation means (e.g. parking fees, to reduce and for at of people and car-share). For fossil fuel use. least 25% of documents/ correspondence, freight commuting materials. (See and business travel, use impacts. related practices in the lowest impact carrier Chapter 8.) that will meet the needs of the parties involved.  Table 3.1 S-CORE: Services and Office Practices Refer to ‘How to Use the Self-Assessments’ in the Introduction. Incubator (1 Integrated (9 Practice point) Initiative (3 points) points) Points Contract Services: Notify all major Implement a tool for Actively influence contractors/supplie evaluating contractors on selection of contractors Use contractors that rs of your their sustainability not hired directly (e.g. share a commitment commitment to practices. Write work with building owner to sustainability (e.g. sustainability. sustainability criteria and or create collaborative requirements into purchasing programmes banks, janitorial, contract language for all with building tenants). landscaping, courier, contractors. catering, etc.). (See related practices in Chapter 9.)  Table 3.1 S-CORE: Services and Office Practices Refer to ‘How to Use the Self-Assessments’ in the Introduction. Practice Incubato Initiative (3 Integrated Points r (1 points) (9 points) point) Food Services: Use non- Label and promote Only provide Ensure access to disposable the sale of healthy locally sourced, healthy, tableware foods (organic in-season, sustainable food and energy- produce, low-fat, sustainable and minimize saving etc.). Use green or food items. All waste devices. sustainable cleaning food waste is (cafeterias,vendi products. composted. ng machines, etc.).  Table 3.1 S-CORE: Services and Office Practices Refer to ‘How to Use the Self-Assessments’ in the Introduction. INCUBATOR INTEGRATED (9 PRACTICE (1 POINT) INITIATIVE (3 POINTS) POINTS) POINTS Food Services: Use non- Label and promote Only provide Ensure access to healthy, disposabl the sale of healthy locally sustainable food e foods (organic sourced, in- and minimize waste tableware produce, low-fat, season, (cafeterias,vendi and etc.). Use green or sustainable ng machines, energy- sustainable food items. All etc.). saving cleaning products. food waste is devices. composted.  Table 3.1 S-CORE: Services and Office Practices Refer to ‘How to Use the Self-Assessments’ in the Introduction. INITIATIVE INCUBATOR (3 INTEGRATED PRACTICE (1 POINT) POINTS) (9 POINTS) POINTS Remodels: Employ green Achieve LEED Achieve Achieve LEED building principles when choosing a new site or certification LEED silver platinum or remodelling an existing one. or or equivalent. (See related practices in equivalent. equivalent. Chapter 7.) TotalAverage  Application Questions Typically, what types of decisions have a larger impact – decisions that affect your organization internally or those that affect the external environment? How do these two types of impacts differ? How are they the same? What are some simple ways to clean up your own operations and why is it important to ‘walk your talk’? Identify three operational improvements that you can implement immediately. Choose a service industry you are interested in. How could they change their operations to provide more social and environmental benefits? Are there jobs that could be done by people with disabilities? How could it serve an underserved and underemployed population? What are its biggest environmental impacts and how could it decrease that impact?