Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Why Your Green Business Program Needs an Environmental Officer

If your business is looking to establish a green business program then you will benefit from appointing an environmental officer to manage the process. Having one person dedicated to oversee the environmental program allows the company to appoint a person with the required skills and means the employee can make environmental issues their priority rather than having to fit it around an existing workload. A dedicated environmental officer also shows the company is committed to the process of going green. In reading this article you will see the key benefits a company gains by appointing one person to oversee the green business program.

The first benefit of having a dedicated environmental officer is the company can ensure the person appointed to the role has the skill set needed to implement green business practices. An employee committed to environmental issues based outside the normal operational departments will likely see areas for improvement that are not obvious to those working in each individual department. Although you cannot have a green business program without the input of staff doing the work, an environmental officer can provide an overview of the issues while incorporating the views of others in the company. Appointing an environmental officer leads to greater capacity to get things done including more in-depth strategic planning.

As well as providing the overview for the green business program, the environmental officer will be responsible for maintaining records, training staff and assisting with the communications related to environmental issues. Depending on the size of the business and the staff available, it can be difficult to ensure 1. that all staff receive the required training, 2. that the training occurs on a regular basis and 3. registers are kept to show what training has occurred. Providing regular feedback to staff on the environmental program and ensuring there are open lines of communication also take time to maintain.

Further having a staff member dedicated to environmental issues guarantees they have time available to investigate all the environmental impacts of the business as well as keeping an eye on new developments within the industry that will improve environmental performance. Often the requirement for a green business program is added to the role of an existing employee whether or not they have the skills or capacity to do the job. A dedicated person (who does not have to be full time) has the advantage of the environmental issues being their primary focus so their "real" job does not get in the way. This also shows staff, customers and shareholders that the company is taking its environmental commitment seriously.

A lot of companies start implementing green practices without a strategic vision of where they want to go. An environmental officer can save time by ensuring there is a step by step strategic plan which is communicated throughout the company on a regular basis. Having one person accountable for creating and maintaining environmental records and ensuring staff receive training on a regular basis provides certainty that these tasks will be done.

As you can see having a dedicated environmental officer provides many benefits to the company which are unlikely to be gained if the establishment of a green business program is an addition to an existing workload.

Want to find out more about starting a green business program? Check out Lets Do It Green for ideas on how to green your business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Manda_Trevarthen

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