Today, it's increasingly important for businesses (big and small) to show a commitment to the environment. Whether this means recycling surplus supplies or encouraging employees to car share, such a commitment can have a big effect on the business' bank balance (as well as the amount of positive PR they receive!). Beyond the obvious, though, many businesses struggle to find areas where they can make these vital environmental cut backs.
Enter a Virtual Assistant. We've already told you about the time and cost benefits that come with hiring a VA. Companies like our very own Your Reception Desk enable you to have all of the benefits of a personal assistant without the cost or the long term commitment. However, we haven't yet mentioned that hiring a VA can do wonders for your environmental policy.
There are a number of reasons why this is the case;
First up, hiring a virtual assistant rather than a non-virtual one reduces the amount of travel done by your employees and therefore reduces the overall carbon footprint of your company. According to a recent BBC documentary a massive 36 million Britons are on the move between 7am and 10am. Imagine how much this figure would go down if more businesses went virtual!
Secondly, the fewer members of your staff who are physically in your office means the less electricity you're going to be using. Less office space, too, means less space to light, less space to heat, and less space to fill with electricity guzzling machines such as computers and printers. All of which has a very positive affect on the environment.
Finally, due to the nature of VAs - most have embraced digital technology wholeheartedly and are therefore very paper light. Using email rather than the post to receive and return documents may be quicker, but it's also a lot more environmentally conscious. Although most VAs are still not at the stage of having a completely paperless office - it's fair to say that they're a lot closer than most of us are!
And so, if you are looking for a way to reduce your business' carbon footprint, your energy consumption or your paper consumption - perhaps you should think about hiring a VA rather than a traditional assistant. Huge jumps forward in technology mean that you can be in instant contact with your assistant - and you're likely to find that this is just as convenient as having her in the next room.
As always, if you would like to talk more about how this could help your business please don't hesitate to get in touch. You can find all our details on the contact page. We look forward to helping your business reap the environmental benefits of hiring a VA!
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