Sustainability for the Rest of Us

If you have less than 50 employees, work in an office, and want to participate in the “people, planet, profits” business model, you have probably noticed the lack of conversation about options for you. A lot of green business discussion focuses on alternative energy, local sourcing, recycling, and other approaches as they apply to big business. For example, its’ not possible to put solar panels on your fifth floor office suite and you can’t package your goods in sustainable materials if you are a service business. 

Barbara O’Brien Brown, cofounder and principle of BrownFlynn, a corporate responsibility and sustainability consulting firm, has some ideas for greening any size business in any industry. Not only is she a green expert, but she is a business owner with twelve employees in a service industry. “Any executive of a service-based company looks at sustainability and when they think about integrating it into their business strategies, they are also looking at their financials,” Brown says. “We see sustainability as part and parcel of a business strategy because it makes sense financially and it makes sense for employee recruitment, satisfaction, and retention,” Brown says. “It also makes sense because many of the clients that small to medium sized businesses serve are beginning to expect that you have a sustainability strategy.” 

What Saves the Planet Saves You Money 

It may not seem that service businesses have significant environmental impacts, but you may be surprised if you take a good look. At Brownflynn, the principles asked their employees to establish goals around the triple bottom line of environmental, social, and economic goals. In response, employees did a “dumpster dive,” where several volunteers went through the garbage the office was producing and came up with ways they could reduce that waste. “We couldn’t believe how much garbage we were putting in the landfill,” Brown says. “We made a concerted effort to put a recycling program and a paperless policy in place and have been able to reduce our garbage pickups from once every two weeks to once a month. So, we’ve saved money and we’re helping the environment.” 

Brown suggests starting basic. Ask your team, should we have a “lights off” policy? Should we switch from paper towels to cloth towels in the bathroom? Should we volunteer in the community as a group? Should we order lunch in from local, independently owned restaurants and avoid chain businesses? Once these ideas have been discussed, formalize the policies that will work for your business. 

What Gets Measured Gets Done 

While coming up with the ideas is a start, it’s an exercise in futility unless you can put these policies into action. “You want to have some measurements, have some outcomes, and have some goals,” Brown says. “As the old saying goes, what gets measured, gets done.” If creating a framework by which to measure the environmental impact as well as the financial impact seems daunting and your accounting software isn’t equipped for the job, there is an online resource to help you get started—the Global Reporting Initiative, globalreporting.org/Home. These guidelines can help you asses the financial, environmental, and community implications your sustainability programs may have. 

Identify Your Place in the Supply Chain 

Even though you don’t make anything, you may serve larger industries and manufacturers. You may be providing service to companies that are really at the forefront of green business or are making more and more sustainability efforts. Often times, these companies have supply chain policies around sustainability, which means that the small service business needs to demonstrate what it’s doing in order to get hired. Reach out to your vendors, clients and prospects to find out about their sustainability efforts. 

From paperless billing to supporting their community charity of choice, you are not only doing good, you are positioning your company to get more business from other sustainable businesses.