Green cleaning services are a foundational requirement for the implementation of sustainability programs in businesses and schools.

Implementing a sustainability program in your school or business requires planners to define approachable goals and implement protocols to address specific challenges.

Without prior experience, administrators will soon discover the initial goal setting phase is nearly impossible to identify for their individual needs and is an inefficient use of resources.

Cost quickly becomes a factor, once implementation stages have begun, specifically training costs for staff unfamiliar with required practices, making outsourcing a cost-efficient alternative, especially during early implementation stages.

The key to success is often open lines of communication at all levels and stages of development to avoid adoption stagnation and ensure new sustainable measures are addressing business needs while meeting anticipated goals.

Sustainability Guidelines

The adoption of environmentally sound and sustainable practices are in a businessesandnbsp;best interests.

According to a landmark study published by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP);

A large majority of suppliers participating in CDP’s supply chain program acknowledge climate risks: A full 72% identified inherent physical, regulatory, and/or other climate change risks that may significantly affect their business operations, revenue, or expenditures.

–From Agreement to Action: Mobilizing suppliers toward a climate resilient world

• Create a Team – Form a multi-disciplined team of managers, facilities maintenance, and janitorial personnel to steer the primary directives and identify key adoption drivers and potential challenges.
• Open up the Floor – Engage your staff and vendors to acquire a deeper understanding the impact of implementing sustainable and reliable practices will have on their current processes to identify key engagement points to ensure smooth business transition.
• Establish Purchasing Guidelines – The early establishment of product and vendor service purchasing guidelines will allow the organization to streamline the decision-making process when considering policy adoption by setting a solid framework.
• Develop a Training Program – With purchasing guidelines established, necessary specialties and certifications must be identified to implement sustainable practices in an economical fashion. andnbsp;Training program adoption typically represents the first fundamental challenge in program adoption, as costs are falsely perceived to outweigh benefits by failing to account for the long-term consequences of ignoring shifts in social expectations.
• Monitoring and Reporting – Post-adoption and implementation practices should consist of monitoring and reporting on pre-established milestones and engagement points to determine the success and impact of any given process regarding the original design, by department,andnbsp;and the business as a whole.

The Case for Outsourcing

Of the most commonly cited concerns for implementing green, reliable, and sustainable practices in schools and businesses is cost–a belief operating under a false premise from a bygone era where it was assumed the business of a business was profit, and that an organization could have profit, or run sustainably, but not both.

That ideology and theory negate the imminent threat to current shipping lines, manufacturer locations, as well as the rising consensus of the modern consumer, in the form of climate change, as well as social and ecological responsibility.

We have reached a tipping point where drivers in green, sustainable schools and businesses have the rare opportunity to be seen as pioneers into a new world; where the long-term ramifications for companies who failed to heed the call will be lost with the pages of history.

One of the most common factors determining the rapid return of investment is the depth of knowledge and project management experience in the group spearheading the agenda.

The second factor is the amount of time it takes key staff and vendors to ramp up to speed on required training and skill and knowledge acquisition.

The most direct and cost-efficient way to address those two factors is to consult with a professional that possess relevant experience and can establish a proven track record of project implementation success.

References

• PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • Resilience: A journal of strategy and risk
  • How can resilience prepare companies for environmental and social change?
• Harvard Business Review -andnbsp;The Comprehensive Business Case for Sustainability
• Cleaning and Maintenance Management -andnbsp;How to Implement a Sustainability Program

Takeaway

Sustainable and reliable business practices are becoming increasingly necessary to maintain a profit forward and socially responsible business in the modern age.

To achieve this, a company will need to establish guidelines that align with the organization’s common vision–sustainable purchasing guidelines typically being the most important, followed by training key personnel.

To relieve investor cost concerns, it is advisable to consult with an experienced professional that will be able to guide your organization through a short and long-term cost-benefit analysis to probe the challenge from both sides–making certain to factor in the current ecological and social impact of maintaining status quo.

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