5 Ways to Significantly Reduce Paper Usage in the Workplace
There has most certainly been a movement towards a paperless office in recent years. While it may not be realistic for your business to go completely paperless, there are some steps you can take to stop wasting paper and start boosting productivity in the workplace.
Here are five practical strategies for significantly reducing the amount of paper usage in the workplace:
- Have a clearly defined print management policy in place – Make your team aware of your goal to create a paperless office by implementing a print management policy. For example, this policy could specify employees or departments that are authorized to use certain print technology, require that default printing be in black and white and on both sides of the paper, and enforce a company-wide recycling program.
- Monitor paper use – Plan to track the number of printed pages per person for a set period of time; this will give you a baseline number to work with. You can use a manual print log and the meters on your printers, copiers and multifunction printers to track printing.
- Minimize the number of desktop printers – Some office environments have a desktop printer on nearly every desk, which makes employees more likely to print unnecessarily. Instead, minimize desktop printers and consider using a high-quality centrally located multifunction printer.
- Replace faxing with fillable PDF forms – Take advantage of fillable PDF forms that can be submitted by email or via a web browser.
- Digitize internal documents – Scan and share your internal documents online. Institute a digital signature policy to eliminate the need for printing documents to sign.
These simple steps can go a long way towards making your office greener and more sustainable. Talk to a Managed Print Services provider today for more ideas on how you can reduce paper usage in your office.