According to a blog post by Traci K of BrightMove, being an environmentally conscious company may be the deciding factor in whether or not your company succeeds in hiring the most desirable job candidates.

The authors say that despite the unemployement rate, there is still a great deal of competition for qualified employees and that, “Showing what is being done to help employees and/or the community may be the deciding factor that brings on that fantastic new hire.”

In case you’re not completely buying into that argument, the authors say, that being green is a great strategy for when the economy does turn around because companies that don’t make an effort to make employees feel proud of the company they work for, will see employees leaving for more desireable jobs.

Whether or not being green will help you attract and maintain employees, many companies want to be greener and the post has some great suggestions on how to do that.

• Go paperless. According to the EPA, the impact of 10 million pages on the environment is 2,500 trees, 56,000 gallons of oil, 405 cubic yards of landfill space, and 595,000 KW of energy. Having trouble deciding whether going paperless is a realistic goal for your organization? Find out more information here and here.
• Recycle the paper that you do use. Place bins in each department for this purpose. Many communities offer recycling pickup and if not, there are local organizations that will pick it up for a small fee. If anything else, call local schools and daycares. I know ours are always asking for scratch paper!
• Buy recycled paper. What better way to prove your support for the environment than to send out correspondence on recycled paper?
• Don’t subscribe to receive hard copies of business/professional magazines, newspapers, etc. Utilize the information from these resources by subscribing online.
• Pay company bills online, eliminating the need for paper statements.
• Require a uniform? Superior Uniform Group offers uniforms made out of environmentally friendly fabrics.
• If traveling for work, use e-tickets instead of paper ones (same goes for events outside of work – many venues now offer e-ticket options).
• Request that your cleaning service use eco-friendly products, or if you have a janitor on staff, buy these types of cleaning products for them to use. You can also stock employee restrooms with eco-friendly products.
• Make sure there are plenty of plants in the office. Find the top 10 houseplants for filtering indoor air here.
• Set the office thermostat to 68 degrees during the day and 55 degrees at night. Many corporations already use this technique to save money (I have to wear a warm cardigan sweater even during the summer).
• Make sure garbage cans are available outside the office building to reduce the chance for litter.
• My office provides coffee in the break room, all day, for all employees. Employees are encouraged to bring their own reusable mugs and can wash them in the kitchenette sink and store them in the cupboard for daily use. This eliminates the need to stop and purchase coffee (cutting down on the use of disposable cups). If this is not an option for your company, you can suggest that employees bring coffee from home in a reusable thermos rather than stopping each day – this will save them money as well!
• Send out a memo to your employees with a few of these suggestions (and more) so that they can be a part of helping accomplish company initiatives. Suggest things like: turning off computers at the end of the day, turning off lights that aren’t being used, only printing when absolutely necessary, bringing lunch in a lunchbox instead of paper or plastic bags, and encouraging employees to carpool.