Walking, biking or taking the bus can be one of the best and easiest ways to make your life sustainable. Not only does it save gas and money, it’s pretty good for you as well. However if you work in an office, the logistics of biking or walking to work can be somewhat difficult. In preparation for Walk and Bike Month in June (we’re very excited to be sponsoring this event), we thought we’d pass along not only how to enable employees to bike and walk to work, but four other easy ways to make your office green in general.

These are a few of the ways that we have found work well for us, and we recommend them in our BLAST! training program. What is BLAST! you ask? BLAST! stands for ‘Business Leaders in Action for Sustainability Today’ and is a program Amadeus Consulting developed after enacting award-winning zero waste policies. You might be surprised that a custom software development company has the need for extensive green policies, but we found that we could produce a fair amount of waste and footprint. In 2007 we decided to change that.

5. Who’s the Boss?

One of the biggest difficulties we see when we train people is that there is not one person in charge of the office sustainability. There are usually many people who have great ideas. The first thing that you can do to get started on office sustainability is to choose who will be in charge. Heck, if you have great ideas volunteer for it yourself. Having one person in charge will enable accountability in these efforts, and will allow that ‘Green Leader’ to delegate and inform the rest of the company about the simple measures they are enacting. Any future ideas will then have a point-person.

4. Offer Employees an Eco-Pass/Discounted Public Transportation

Not only will this initiative help your employees make the office more sustainable, it can also be considered an employee benefit. Be sure to explain the value of this to your employees; it can be used outside the office for personal reasons (to the airport, to a concert), it cuts down the cost of gas and car repair, and also usually gives people a better way to exercise (walking to and from a bus stop).

3. Designate a Bike-or-Walk to Work Day per Week/Month

At Amadeus Consulting, we are pretty lucky to have showers on-site that allow bikers to shower after their long trek into the office. However, we understand that many offices do not have that capability and it is not easy to implement. What we recommend instead is to designate a Bike-or-Walk to work day as a ‘Casual Friday’ like environment. This means that you can schedule a day like this when things can be a little more relaxed and no clients will be in the office. Scheduling this will build excitement around the day, as well as highlight other green initiatives.

2. Carpooling

Chances are good that many of your employees live close to one another. Hopefully chances are good that they like one another enough to ride with one another. If this is the case, then conduct a commuter survey to find out where everyone lives (some may not be willing to give out this info, which is totally fine). Based on this you can create a commuter map to share with your employees. It is likely that they do not know how close they live to their co-workers and have also not thought about carpooling. Go ahead and suggest it, the worst that can happen is they say no.

1. Shut the Lights Off (But not when you think)

You might be surprised how much you like this one. Many offices have extensive outside windows that give plenty of natural light. Encourage your employees (especially those who sit in rooms together) to turn off their lights once a week. Not only does this help you save on your electric bill, but we find that it is easier to see the computer screen in a slightly darker environment. We have heard many stories about people’s dislike of fluorescent office lighting, and the best way to eliminate that gripe is to shut off the lights. It does a bit of good for everyone.

This is obviously not a comprehensive list, and we’ll definitely be sharing more tips with you over the coming month. Again we invite you to share your tips in the comment section. Remember, there are a ton of things that you can do to make a difference, and trying one can often lead to more.

Learn more about the custom technology services that Amadeus Consulting offers, at www.AmadeusConsulting.com.