Running a sustainable business PART 3

Part 3 - Get involved

At Ralph, we are passionate about operating sustainably and responsibly. It’s not just lip service, we’ve made small changes to the way we operate to ensure we are doing everything we can, within our control to limit the impact of our business on the environment and the planet we love. We haven’t got it perfect, there is still a lot to learn about operating sustainably, but we wanted to share our learnings to date in the third part series - Get Involved!

If you are serious about running a responsibly sustainable business, then get everyone involved! There are lots of things which could make a difference, here's just a few ideas:

Incentivise public transport

Try running a 'leave the car at home week', encouraging everyone to get into the office via alternative methods for 5 days and run a reward at the end of the week for everyone who managed it? Perhaps being forced to find alteranative routes to work may help colleagues break old habits of just jumping in the car to work. 

Work from home 

Perhaps not reasonably practical all the, but if everyone worked from home once a week it would reduce the traffic on the roads by one fifth from Monday to Friday. We already work with a number of global businesses who promote agile and home working and not only does it create happier colleagues, who don't have the stress of the commute, it's also better for the environment too!

Plastic Free Fridays

Sign up to the #plasticfreefridays campaign and ask everyone in the office to go single-use plastic free for one day a week. It's easy to do, with enough notice and planning and is a great way to making the first step to running an entirely plastic free organisation.

Meat Free Mondays

Combat the pollution of mass meat production, by introducing a meat-free day at work and what better day than a Monday! Get everyone to think creatively about going meat-free, share lunch recipes, look at local cafe menus, start the conversation.

Put it on the agenda

Make sustainability an agenda item at management and team meetings. Ask everyone for ideas for quick wins and see through the longer term plans to make wholesale changes.

These may seem like small steps, but incremental changes go a long way in fighting 'the good fight' on behalf of our planet. Maintaining momentum to provide the so-called ‘greener future’ can have far-reaching consequences, so it’s crucial that as businesses we take responsibility and become accountable in terms of our global footprint and promoting a positive and sustainable future.

Thanks for reading and we hope that some of these ideas inspire you to get involved at work. We'd love to hear any other ideas you have on running a sustainable business.