Federal employee travel and commuting account for the largest category of what the administration calls indirect sources of pollution.  The White House is encouraging workers to travel less for business and to use mass transit for their commutes.

Today, most businesses understand their responsibility to limit their impact on the environment and are leveraging available technology like video and audio conferencing as an alternative to business travel.

Among the many benefits of this technology are: a decrease in business travel expenses, a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and increased productivity.  Individuals can have face-to-face meetings with colleagues or clients anyone anywhere in the world allowing them to collaborate as effectively as if they were meeting in the same room.
 
Access to this technology is no longer a luxury but a necessity for businesses of all sizes. Companies find themselves managing a distributed workforce with limited budget for business travel. Videoconferencing eliminates geographic boundaries and is an easy way for businesses to be environmentally conscious.

Did you know that 5.7% of New York City’s residential waste is textiles, yet they are 100% recyclable?  Since 2007, the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC) has offered textile recycling drop-off sites at select Greenmarkets, including one at the Union Square Greenmarket just a short walk from the OfficeLinks Chelsea office location, redirecting hundreds of thousands of pounds of material from the landfill. 

Every Monday at the Union Square Greenmarket (due to construction, the site may move around the park, so you can just ask at the Market Manager’s tent if you have trouble finding it), from 8 am – 6 pm, you can recycle your unwanted textile materials, including clothing, shoes, linens, bedding, and towels.  They are then sold for reuse or to recycling markets that turn materials into wiping rags, fiber for car seats and insulation.  And, yes, your donation is tax deductible!  So, before or after work, or even on your lunch break, take the short 1/3 mile walk from the OfficeLinks Chelsea office location to the Union Square Greenmarket and turn your Manic Monday into a Material Monday and help “green” New York!  For more information, click here.

If you want to stay competitive while using a virtual office, professionalism must remain a focus in the forefront. Employees should be able to send an mail from a prime professional business address and there should be a phone number available to customers/clients and employees with a professional voice answering the phone. Your business could have live call answering during business hours, access to a day office and even a fully-equipped space for meetings. A professional front face is key. Remember an old rule of thumb; a good impression is a lasting one…a bad one lasts even longer.

OfficeLinks’ three superior New York City office locations (40 Wall Street, 1440 Broadway and 33 West 19th Street) and a landmark Chicago office location in the Willis Tower, offer clients an array of Virtual Office options that are just right for every kind of business out there – including yours.

So, whether you are a start-up, entering a new market, needing local presence for project work, or have a mobile workforce, a Virtual Office is a viable, cost-effective option for your business. To learn how OfficeLinks can help, click here.

Willis Tower, which already meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria, has plans that include: efficiency improvements to the building’s exterior envelope and windows, mechanical systems upgrades in the form of new gas boilers that utilize fuel cell technologies, reducing elevator and escalator energy consumption by 40%, upgrades in restroom fixtures, condensation recovery systems and water efficient landscaping resulting in water savings, upgraded lighting that will save up to 40% of lighting energy consumption, and the use of renewable energy.

OfficeLinks, located on the 84th floor of the Willis Tower, applauds Willis Tower’s commitment to going green. OfficeLinks has created a LEED compliant office space for their tenants that includes paints, finishes, adhesives and carpeting that meet low VOC (volatile organic compounds) or Green Label Plus requirements, Energy Star rated equipment and appliances, and re-used material use wherever possible.

Going green at Willis Tower gives Chicago sky high hopes for a better future. To find out more about Willis Tower’s green transformation, click here.