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Home truths for the office


ETHICAL BUSINESS Don’t leave your good recycling


habits at home – it’s easy to spread the good message at work as well, writes Deborah Ivison.


After breakfast when you’ve put the last washed empty bottle and newspaper into the recycling bin, you’re on your way to work and stop to grab a takeaway coff ee in a disposable cup, with a fruit salad and yoghurt neatly packaged in a plastic container along with a handy throw-away plastic spoon. But while most of us seem to be in the habit of doing the right


thing at home, recycling at the offi ce seems to go out the window. Planet Ark head of campaigns Brad Gray says it is all about


setting up habits and systems at work as well as at home. “It takes only one enthusiastic person to take the initiative.”


He recommends four easy steps to get you started: Buy a keep-cup for your morning takeout coff ee Establish a paper-recycling bin for everyone in the offi ce


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to use, or put individual ones under everyone’s desk to make it really easy.


3 Create a recycling area for printer cartridges. If you


use more than three a month, Planet Ark will provide a free collection box and collect them free of charge. The Post Offi ce also has a recycling service.


4 Find ways to cut down on the amount of paper used


(proof-read on screen, print documents double-sided or have a scrap-paper pile for use within the offi ce). For further tips, visit businessrecycling.com.au.


Gray says the choice of suppliers can also make a diff erence,


such as companies that supply offi ce products (for example, Pilot Pen Australia off ers eco-friendly products like the B2P gel-ink pen, made with 89 per cent recycled materials from plastic bottles). Establishing ethical business practices does not stop at the


Ethical Business is sponsored by Pilot Pen Australia, which makes the Pilot B2P from recycled plastic bottles.


20 APRIL/MAY 2013 I WWW.EXECUTIVEPA.COM.AU


physical environment. Many companies are also seeking ways to establish workplace policies that lay down guidelines for appropriate behaviour and communications practices. “Bullying, back-stabbing, verbal abuse and mistreating


colleagues, particularly junior staff , can be rife in many companies,” says managing director David Carman of change management consultancy Realise Now. He says this is because the traditional workplace is in some


ways an artifi cial structure. “At home we take the time to listen to our partners, our house


mates and our children. Confl icts are often readily resolved because of unspoken rules of behaviour as to what is acceptable


In the workplace social norms can often be fl outed because there are no


behavioural rules in place


and not acceptable. In the workplace these social norms often can be fl outed because there are no behavioural rules in place.” Such behaviour can lead to staff fall-out, an increase in sick


days and a general downturn in productivity, says Carman. Melbourne law fi rm Nowicki Carbone senior HR manager


Sophie Filippone agrees. She has experienced a decline in staff morale and breakdown in communication caused by rapid company growth. “We had no internal system or behavioural guidelines to


support staff through this change, and experienced fragmented teamwork and high staff turnover. We established an ethical behavioural practice with a new leadership team, and the company has since grown from strength-to-strength.” “Ultimately, doing the right thing benefi ts everyone in an


organisation and can positively impact the bottom line, which is after all the reason why we get out of bed in the morning and go to work in the fi rst place,” says Carman.


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