American offices use 12.1 trillion sheets of paper each year. Unfortunately, paper also makes up 25% of landfill waste.

How can we cut down on our paper use to help the environment? Reduce your paper consumption massively by creating a paperless office in your workplace.

Not only can you help the planet but you will also reduce clutter, save money, and increase your efficiency. Read on to learn how your office can go paperless today.

Change Your Company Culture

Old habits are hard to change. Unless all of your staff get on board with going paperless in the office, you’re not going to see change.

Introduce the concept well in advance of the start date, giving staff plenty of time to prepare. Provide training sessions and resources so staff know exactly how to replace their current methods with paperless ones.

If you can show them how going paperless will benefit the environment, save the company money, and improve efficiency, they are likely to be understanding of the change.

Move to Digital Filing and HR Systems

Replace traditional archive, filing, and HR systems with digital versions to cut down on paper.

There are plenty of options for organizing and sharing files, especially via a cloud server. This allows staff to access what they need from anywhere.

Dropbox and OneDrive are good options, but make sure your staff also have access to a scanner to create electronic copies of their documents for archiving.

Clear up office space as well by archiving and then recycling old files and paper documents, then ensuring all staff know how to access them.

In HR, you can create pay stubs digitally, an easy and paper-free way to ensure staff receive payments.

Email Presentation Notes

Stop printing out meeting notes (and board reports). Encourage staff to bring their laptops or tablets to meetings and take notes electronically, or nominate someone to send through an agenda in advance and email the notes around afterward.

Each department should look after their own files and records, keeping everything tidy online so other staff can have things easily.

There’s no need to use so much paper for each meeting when it’s so simple to go paperless.

Offer Employes Dual Monitors

Often, staff print documents because it is easier to work with hard copies compared to juggling multiple files on a computer screen. To help with this, offer staff who can benefit, such as those in administration or IT, a second monitor.

This will ease the strain on their eyesight and give them more space to work on multiple documents at the same time.

Create a Paperless Office Today

Increase your company’s productivity and reduce waste by creating a paperless office today. Although it can be tricky at first, once staff members are on board, your company will soon start enjoying the many benefits of going paperless.

Did you find this article helpful? If so, please read some of our other great content across our site.