Getting Started
Drowning in paper….?
With the average office worker using 10,000 sheets of paper a year and despite 45% of this ending up in the waste paper bin, you may well still be drowning in paper. For the majority of businesses paper volumes are increasing by 22% annually, which means it will double in a little under 3½ years. Worldwide paper consumption is still on the increase with an estimated 18 million acres of forest lost each year, equating to 20 football pitches every minute.
Did you know….?
Large organisations lose a document every 12 seconds costing between £250-£500 per document. Even a misfiled document costs around £100. What is even more concerning is that more than 70% of businesses would fail if they suffered a catastrophic flood or fire involving paper loss.
Why consider a paper-lite initiative….?
There are many valid reasons for reviewing your paper usage not least for the proactive improvement of your eco footprint. But also considering the extent of technology available to create and store electronic documents and the ever increasing flexibility of our mobile devices there are more reasons than not to move online.
Be realistic and start small
It is not possible nor viable for all businesses to go completely paperless but there are many practical reasons for considering this as a key initiative for the coming year. You may already have many of the basic technologies in place required to make this step change, but culture change is one of the fundamental issues that will be key to your success.
Be patient
Changing people’s mindsets is a slow, gradual process which requires patience and a view of the long game rather than an expectation of instant success. Saying that, a combination of starting with the right messaging, being clear about your end goal and the introduction of a number of quick wins can help motivate your organisation into action.
Be clear about what paper-lite means, and what it doesn’t
Start as you mean to go on, dispel the myths from the outset and be clear about what you mean andwhat you’re aiming for:
• Why are you doing this as a firm, what are your motivators – publish these for everyone to see
Are you moving to a fully paperless environment, or are you merely moving to Less Paper – there is a big difference.
• Are you mandating the change or will this be a “soft” launch moving to “enforcement” much later on and what’s the timeline?
• What targets have you set for paper reduction, cutting storage/printing/paper costs?
• What do you already do that supports this initiative – are there pockets of good practice already – highlight these.
• Publish stats on paper consumption that are meaningful to your organisation and will focus people’s minds
Not everything works for everyone
Finding new and imaginative ways to remove volumes of physical paper whether to an archive store, or permanently, can be a quick and effective (but sometimes temporary) method of making a difference and demonstrating just how much onsite paper is retained unnecessarily.
For more information, assistance and/or support with your Paper-Lite initiative, please give Adrienne a call, or drop her an email.