‘Big changes start with small steps.’
Creating a sustainable office is an effective way to reduce expenses while helping to save the environment and to create a better working climate. Companies are becoming more aware of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and it has become increasingly important for them to choose for more sustainable solutions. These can be sustainable quick wins, just think of waste separation, working paperless, using biological cleaning products, re-using office furniture, serving local organic products in the company restaurant, or having plants in the office to improve air quality and humidity.
But there are also solutions that are a bit more complicated in implementation, but which yield great results in the long term. These solutions sometimes require more research, perseverance, and a solid corporate policy. For example, the use of more sustainable materials in a production process, cleaner transportation options, reduction of energy consumption, saving floorspace, etc.
Making smart sustainable decisions
Using modern-day smart office systems result in some very interesting benefits. What if it turns out that you can suffice with less office space? With the reduction of office space, you for example, will be able to lower your energy consumption, move to a smaller building, or rent out the spaces you don’t need. You could even try to sell the office furniture, that you don’t use anyway, via sustainable channels like marketplaces or secondhand stores. GoBright solutions improve your workplace management and give an accurate overview of your occupancy rate. With this accurate information you can make more efficient and sustainable decisions.
8 Ways to reach your sustainability goals with GoBright
At GoBright we want to support companies in reaching sustainability goals with a direct result, as well as with solutions for the long-term.
1. Smart energy reduction
A lot of valuable information is collected in the ‘Analytics’ part of the GoBright platform. A good example is the occupancy rate of your office.
If all employees book their workplaces and meeting rooms in advance, you can better pre-estimate how all areas will be used. If the occupancy rate, for example, on Friday is 45%, because colleagues work from home, or have the day off, you can choose to completely close certain floors or areas. Lighting, heating, air conditioning or digital signage screens can be switched off on those floors. This results in direct savings on energy costs; in the short and long term. You could even consider investing in an improved, energy-efficient lighting system.
2. Smart use of equipment
When using GoBright Room Booking, in combination with Room Control and Room Sensors, the AV equipment and lighting are only used when the room is occupied. Electronics switch on and off automatically when entering/leaving the room. You can alert the IT or Facility manager when something is wrong during your stay in the room, so that maintenance and repairs can take place in a timely manner.
Prevent screens from being up and running unnecessarily all night. Our software has a ‘night mode’ with which the screens are automatically switched off outside working hours. The GoBright Connect (used with Desk Booking) has an energy-saving standby mode as well.
3. Extend the life cycle of the equipment
When screens, AV equipment, lighting and air conditioning only function when needed, this has a positive influence on the lifespan of the equipment. Ultimately it makes equipment last longer, needing less repairs or maintenance.
4. Save on costs for floorspace
With the actual occupancy rate of meeting rooms and desks you can see how much office space is needed in the long-term. Based on this information you can influence your sustainable choices. If your occupancy rate is generally 50%, you can decide to reduce your office space significantly by moving to another building, or renting out space to others. This is a sustainable way to lower energy consumption and save costs on rent.
Sustainable office design does not necessarily mean that less office space is required. It means that the office can be set up differently, more efficiently. Are more or fewer desks needed? Or are other types of meeting rooms required? That is also part of responsible and sustainable thinking.
5. Smart cleaning
With an accurate workplace occupancy rate, you can see which desks/rooms have, or have not been used. This way the facility manager can make decisions more effectively regarding the cleaning schedules. What has not been used, does not have to be cleaned; that’s what we call ‘smart cleaning’.
6. Paperless booking and (visitor)registration process
Thanks to our digital solutions for desk booking, room booking and visitor registration, the booking and check-in process of employees and visitors is completely paperless. Data is safely stored in the GoBright cloud-based portal, completely GDPR proof.
7. Less commuting thanks to hybrid working
With the rise of hybrid working – working partly at the office and partly at home (or elsewhere) – daily commutes have decreased. This not only means less travel time for employees, and on the upside more productive working time, but also less traffic jams on the road and less CO2 emissions. GoBright solutions are all about supporting hybrid working environments.
8. Be the change you want to see
Sustainability at the office is not something that happens in the background and it is not only a ‘managers task’. It is an ongoing process with which you want to achieve big results by taking small steps. So, it is important to involve your employees in this process. For example, set targets and talk about the advantages for the company as well as the employees, put together a ‘Green team’ with people from different departments, create sustainability challenges, show what you are doing as an organisation and celebrate the successes achieved. With GoBright Digital Signage, you can share content with all employees, to inform and enthuse them.
It doesn’t matter in what way you want to reach your goals as long as you keep taking steps forward and making more sustainable choices. Collecting data on employee behaviour is a key step to helping businesses to design the sustainable workplace that best meets their needs now and in the future. GoBright thinks along and helps you achieve your sustainable goals with innovative technology.
