The drive to make your company eco-friendly, or at least environmentally conscious, is not just a business decision.

Taking a stand on how your company impacts the environment - and taking steps to mitigate those negative effects - speaks to the underlying values of your organisation. It communicates to your internal staff that being green is a critical component to your mission statement and overall brand mantra.

But wanting to reduce your carbon footprint and actually doing it are two separate tasks. Business owners, office managers, IT managers and HR leaders should look around the workplace for ways to optimise the equipment, machinery, protocols and consumables that impact the efficiency of the employees and the building itself.

By the numbers: CSR in the mainstream

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now firmly rooted into the fibres of nearly all of the world's largest businesses, the majority of which release annual CSR reports for consumers and shareholders to view. The impetus for such movement is that it CSR matters deeply to current and prospective customers.

Here's a brief rundown on some of the latest CSR figures:

• Fortune Global 500 firms spend $20 billion annually on CSR goals, according to Harvard Business Review.
• 50% of millennials would willingly take a pay cut if it meant being employed at an organisation that shares their values, according to a LinkedIn Workplace Culture report.
• 87% of consumers perceive a brand more positively if it supports environmental or social issues, according to CSR public relations firm Cone Communications.
• 92% of customers are more likely to trust a brand that supports environmental or social issues, Cone Communications additionally found.

A carbon footprint, for example, is no longer a conceptual objective; it's now a commercial line item in business plans, one that can be tracked, measured and reported against. Annual improvements to an organisation's previous CSR efforts help to create momentum with internal staff and keep the world at large apprised of who that company is, what they care about and where they're heading.

What does CSR look like in your business?

Achieving efficiency standards in the workplace

Becoming a more environmentally conscious company dovetails with being more cost-conscious.

Wherever savings can be found - in resources, materials, energy, budget, etc. - is an avenue toward improving your bottom line, so "going green" is a positive action for the entire company to embark on.

Communicating those activities throughout the workforce, too, is an important mechanism for rallying spirited involvement to the cause and empowering your human capital to merge their personal and professional values into productive synthesis that supports environmental efficiency.

Implementing core standards across the workplace - like savings targets - can clarify policies for employees and set measurable benchmarks for all to achieve.

Common CSR activities in the workplace include:

• Recycling.
• Retrofitting equipment.
• Conscious business travel policies.
• Waste management.
• Water, heat and power conservation.
• Partnering only with green vendors and suppliers.
• Telecommuting opportunities.

While all of these tasks can have substantial effects within your organisation, they don't all have to occur at once. Prioritising the unique needs of your business, while taking into account which types of activities are most likely to yield quick savings, should put you on a promising path toward greater sustainability.

Let's look at how a sustainable, low-consumption printing solution can help transform your company footprint and promote your brand as socially responsible.

How important is being green to your financials?

How printing fits into your footprint

Seeing as the printer emits heat, consumes power, uses paper and can easily be misused by uninformed staff members, it's a great starting point from which to reduce your carbon footprint step by step.

One issue that immediately crops up, though, is that investments in equipment like printers may only be allocated every few years. And if the printers your office currently use are supposedly "working just fine," gaining buy-in from those higher up the chain of command may prove onerous. The key, however, is to incorporate printing into larger CSR initiatives, particularly as a line item.

Though carbon emissions resulting from print and paper products add up to less than 1% of total worldwide carbon output, paper is one of the easiest and most tangible items to address in a meaningful way within your company. It's a physical object, it can be recycled and its use can be curtailed with proper measures.

Revising your company's paper policy can be supported by the efficiency of a printer that produces less waste, requires fewer consumables and uses less power than conventional models on the market. That's where Epson printing solutions come in.

WorkForce Enterprise

Epson's line of WorkForce Enterprise printers make your company smarter, greener and faster. Utilising Epson's inkjet technology, WorkForce Enterprise office printing solutions allow you to work quickly while aligning your operations with CSR goals.

Because it has fewer moving parts than comparable models, it produces no heat, requires less maintenance and generates crisper print quality. The WorkForce Enterprise features:

• Eco-friendly colour.
• Super fast 100 ppm speeds.
• 87% reduction in electricity usage.
• Reduced CO₂ emissions and landfill.
• 100,000-page mono capacity on one ink set.

With the proper printing solutions in place at your organisation, your team can make headway on its CSR efforts and reduce its carbon footprint over time. By ensuring your high-efficiency printer fits into your company's larger conservation objectives, you can create better products with less waste.

For more information on Epson's range of business printing solutions, reach out today!