The new SBN Smart Office Guide provides the latest at-a-glance best practice in sustainable workplace management. Working through it will help you reduce the cost, waste and environmental impact of your workplace. It will help maximise the creativity and productivity of the people who work with you. It will help retain them and attract new talent.
My first office job was in a local newspaper in the UK. I hammered away on an MS-DOS computer with a green screen and no mouse, constantly in fear that a collapsing tower of Hertfordshire Mercury’s would fatally smother me. I have shivered in offices full of rain-filled buckets and sweated at the keyboard through merciless summers.
But it needn’t be so. The Smart Office Guide is here. It will show us benighted commuters the Promised Land.
This Guide has been created for you with experts from SBN member companies, in partnership with EECA Business. Companies interviewed for the Guide included Warren & Mahoney, EnviroSpec, Philips Lighting, Ricoh, Staples and Reclaim. Contributions are also included from Green Air, Energy Solution Providers, Evident, Sustainability Trust, Fuji Xerox, Katalyst Office Management, Tekne, The Misprint Company, Tork Professional Hygiene, Abilities Incorporated, The Eco Pro Cleaning Co., Creative Spaces, Friendlypak and Method.
It is the brainchild of SBN project lead James Griffin.
“Our mission is to produce the best information on this for New Zealand businesses and beyond,” he says. “We have applied the expert knowledge in the SBN network, complete with the latest workplace design thinking. We’ve done it in such a way that you can pick this up and run with it from day one. Whether you are a large corporate or an owner-operator, there’s a wealth of useful advice inside.”
It’s been produced in partnership with EECA Business.
Greg Visser, General Manager, Business at Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, says: “More and more, businesses will need to focus on how they are run and the environment they can work in. There are many wins to be had, from cost savings through energy reduction to increased productivity with engaged staff.”
The guide covers all aspects of office design and management, from energy efficiency to waste and recycling. Each section is divided into three phases. The Right Now section offers improvements you can make immediately with little or no budget. The Right Investment section details how to get the most for your money. The Leading Edge section provides a taste of where the latest developments in office design and management may be headed.
Most importantly the Guide features comprehensive To Do lists in each area, and offers support from the experts in each area among SBN’s member companies.
“This is very much a workbook,” says James. “It’s designed to live on your desk and get used.”
Companies using the Guide are also encouraged to share their progress, savings and learnings with SBN. These results will be celebrated through SBN’s media channels and form a database to inform best practice and updates to the Guide.”
As a member you can pick up your copy of the Smart Office Guide now let us know what you think and the results you get.
To find out more and hear from the contributors to the Guide come to our Guide launch events in Auckland on the 18th May, Wellington on the 24th May and Tauranga on the 8th June.