The grass is always greener... in the other cube?

Ah, the great outdoors – green grass, blue skies, sunshine. Wouldn’t it be nice to bring a little bit of that into the office?

Look no further than the Breathing Partition from Yanko Design (via Geek Sugar). These super-cool cube dividers come equipped with an automatic watering system and room for all your favorite plants.

(Image via Yanko Design)

So, maybe the grass is always greener … in a Yanko cube.

Sustainable training: The new way to go green at work

Over the past few years, businesses across the country have been doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint in the earth by going green at work. Whether the motivating factors involve cutting costs or getting an edge on the competition, more are discovering the benefits of sustainability in business.

As part of their overall corporate green strategy, businesses may change the way they manufacture products or start buying recycled printing paper, but they may be overlooking one key area that could have a major impact on their green strategy -- the training department.

By not only training employees to learn new, greener ways to work, training departments can become leaders within any organization through the use of environmentally friendly training methods.

The definition of sustainable training will differ from business to business. A manufacturing company may be focused on reducing emissions, while a software development company is more focused on reducing waste in the office and finding eco-friendly ways to dispose of computer equipment.

Whatever the end goal is, the training department plays a key role in improving any organization’s impact on the environment. By shifting learning from the classroom to online platforms, training departments can lead by example.

Enrolling employees in online training and making learning resources available online or on the company Intranet are both great ways to start improving the sustainability of your organization’s training program.

Why choose sustainable employee training? Moving training and reference materials online can help businesses conserve natural resources in the following ways:

• Reduced fuel consumption. Since the material is online, employees use less fuel traveling to attend training classes.
• Reduced energy consumption. By reducing the amount of time spent in a traditional classroom, businesses save energy that would be used to light and air condition physical rooms.
• Less physical waste. When courses and materials are online, less paper is used to create training materials and reduces the amount of physical waste businesses create.
• Reduced costs. With sustainable training, businesses save money by reducing costs for printing, paper, travel costs and energy use.

When it’s necessary to send people to a physical location for training, find facilities that are accessible from public transportation or encourage employees to travel together in a carpool.

As you start to improve the sustainability of your training department, keep the three Rs in mind - reduce, reuse and recycle. Throughout the process, be thinking of new ways to reduce, reuse and recycle every day at work and in your employee training programs.

Every little green step can add up to big green changes for your organization. Discover more green business ideas and everyday ways businesses can reduce, reuse and recycle here.

Skip the gross, stage greener office pranks

In the wake of possibly the worst workplace prank ever recorded and posted on YouTube (thank you Domino's employees), we'd like to take a less disgusting and much friendlier approach to the office prank.

Whether it's filling your coworker's cube with packing peanuts or covering their walls with sticky notes, most office pranks create unnecessary waste. Now you can still be funny while keeping the environment in mind by playing greener office pranks.

Here are just a few ideas:

• Stage a kidnapping. Kidnap all the plastic water bottles from your coworkers and replace them with eco-friendly reusable mugs. Leave a ransom note with the reason for the swap.
• Paper saver. This one's for that employee who always prints way too much. Get onto their computer and change their printer settings to ".pdf writer" or another option that doesn't go straight to the printer.
• Indoor guerrilla gardening. Pick up a bunch of indoor plants and do a little indoor guerrilla gardening on a coworkers desk by covering their workspace with a collection of greenery.

The video below by Grist's Umbra Fisk shares some great ideas for going green in the office, plus an added green office prank that should go over well with most of the eco-friendly pranksters and The Office fans out there.

April Fool's Day was only a few weeks ago and we know you were a part of at least a prank or two. Leave a comment and share your ideas for the greenest office pranks going around.

How to turn your workspace into a green oasis

Many of us have found ways to go green at home, from carrying groceries in reusable shopping bags, to eco-friendly light bulbs and buying produce from local markets, but not as many are doing much to go green at work.

Going green at work involves many of the same decisions you've made to become more environmentally friendly at home. With more offices jumping on the green bandwagon, creating a green workspace has become easier than ever before.

Here are eight tips to make greening your workspace even easier:

• Buy a plant. Plants improve the quality of the air by removing pollutants like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere. Putting a plant on your desk is an efficient way to improve the air quality in your office.


• Print less. Think twice when you go to hit that print button - Do you really need a hard copy? Could you print double-sided?


• Print with soy-based ink. When you have to use the printer, print your documents using eco-friendly, soy-based ink.


• Buy recycled. From printer paper to the labor law posters on the wall, buy products and office supplies that are made from recycled materials


• Turn off the lights. Turn off the lights in your office or meeting room when you're not there. Also think about replacing the light bulbs with an energy saving bulb.


• Turn off your computer. When you leave the office at the end of the day, completely turn off your computer rather than leaving it powered all night. Shut off all the other appliances in your office while you're at it.


• Use real silverware. When it's time for lunch, use your own plates and silverware from home, rather than going through dozens of plastic utensils and plates each week.


• Avoid the vending machine. Instead of buying a new bottle of water from the vending machine everyday, buy a reusable water bottle that you can wash and refill without creating waste.

Going green at the office can be an easier process than you once may have thought. Implement a few of these tips for making your workspace eco-friendly and encourage your coworkers to do the same.

How to cut costs in your personal budget at work

You’ve heard the spiel before - we’re in a recession, your 401(k) is losing money, companies are laying off workers left and right, and we’re all worried about it.

Instead of worrying about everything you have no control over, concern yourself with the parts of your life that you can do something about - starting with how you choose to spend your money.

When you factor in coffee, lunch and all those snacks out of the vending machine, the office has a way of taking more cash out of our wallets than we’d like. Controlling your personal spending habits at work is a great way to start cutting costs in your personal budget.

In a recent New York Times Q & A, author Eilene Zimmerman shared some great ideas for slicing your own budget at the office. Here are a few of the best:

• Leave the plastic at home. Leaving credit cards at home helps you to curb impulsive spending. Determine how much money you can afford to spend at work each week and put that amount of cash in an envelope. If that’s all the money you have to spend, you’ll think twice about your lunch order.


• Brown bag it. Cut down on food costs and improve your health by bringing lunch from home. A survey conducted in October by ConAgra Foods found that workers spend an average of $6.60 a day on lunch. By bringing food from home, even two or three times a week, can help you cut down on food costs.


• Skip the vending machines. For the cost of a few items out of the vending machine you could afford to buy an entire box of snacks from the grocery store. Get a few co-workers together and set up a snack pool. Each person donates snacks like granola bars or pretzels to share with the group and keep your stash of snacks in a central location in the office.


• Brew your own. “If you skip the twice-daily coffee your can save $30 a week. That’s $120 a month and about $1,500 a year.” Pick up a French press (usually less than $20) and brew your own great cup of coffee whenever you want, for a fraction of the cost of a store-bought latte.


• Take a look at your health benefits. Talk with human resources to ensure you’re making the right benefits enrollment decisions. Starting a flexible spending account would allow you to use pretax income for out-of-pocket medical and health expenses. Using pretax income will give you about a 25% savings and reduces your taxable income.

We’d like to add one more to the list - just say no to bottled water. Not only does it help you go green at work, it could help you save a lot of money. Americans spent more money last year on bottled water ($15 billion) than they did on iPods or movie tickets. Buying a reusable water bottle will help you stop wasting money and reduce your carbon footprint.

Saving money at work comes down to making conscious decisions on the little things you buy everyday. Give yourself strict limits, stick to them, and you’ll be saving money in no time.

Training employees to go green in the office

Going green in the office is more than just a trend. By improving the energy efficiency of office buildings, businesses can save money on pricey electric bills and protect the earth’s precious resources.

“Energy use in commercial buildings and manufacturing plants accounts for nearly half of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 50 percent of energy consumption nationwide,” according to the EPA.

Because it’s where workers spend a large portion of their day, the American workplace is where people can make the largest impact by going green. Training employees to reduce waste office waste can take time, but with a little help you can get everyone on board and involved.

With most people already doing their part at home to save energy, the EPA encourages people to “Bring their Green to Work” with their latest online tool called Energy Star @ Work.

Revealed earlier this month, Energy Star @ Work provides people with valuable tips and information on how workers can save energy and do their part to protect the environment in the workplace.


Start a green movement in your office

Get employees to go green at the office and get involved by setting up green teams dedicated to the cause. With management’s approval, encourage coworkers from different levels and areas of your organization to get involved in the green movement. Forming a diversified team from all levels in the company will ensure greater support and success.

Hold green team meetings to discuss what areas of the business are the least energy efficient and what can be done to make improvements. Raise awareness throughout the office with emails, fliers and posters with information on how the business is going green and what they can do to help.

October is Energy Awareness Month and a perfect time to hold a green event in the office to get everyone excited and aware of the green team’s efforts. Get employees involved and informed by holding a brown bag luncheon with a featured in-house or outside expert to speak about ways to save energy in the office.

Another way to get employees involved in the company’s green efforts is to set up competitions. Divide employees by department or by Green Teams and start a competition to see who can be the most green in the office.

Hand out environmentally friendly prizes like reusable water bottles or coffee mugs to the teams that show the biggest improvements. Remember to publicly recognize teams for their energy efficient changes in company newsletters or at quarterly meetings.


Going green in the office doesn’t have to be difficult. With the support of upper management, involved employees and a little office camaraderie, your company can start doing its part to conserve energy and cut down on greenhouse gasses. It could be as simple as finding energy efficient office supplies or changing the posters on your walls, that could get your office started today.

LUSH naked party: Going green at work gone too far?

Employees at LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics stores went to work on Wednesday wearing nothing but their aprons to persuade customers to buy products free of packaging.

The company encouraged employees in 24 cities across the country to lead the “cheeky” protest, by showing up to work wearing only aprons reading “ASK ME WHY I’M NAKED.” The aprons (and lack of clothing underneath) are meant to prompt discussion with passers-by on the impact packaged goods have on the environment.

All planet-saving discussion aside, the company seems to have overlooked some serious workplace issues involved with their naked event ... starting with sexual harassment.

From New York Magazine:

“The publicity stunt, a spokesperson explained, was the company's idea, but employees chose whether to comply. While some clearly reveled in the attention, as the crowd grew larger, others seemed to be feeling regretful about their choice.

We asked store manager Jennifer Paulson, who kept herself firmly pressed against the store wall, why she had chosen to go naked. "Because we keep our products unpackaged so nothing goes to the landfill," she said like a good employee, then worried aloud: "Someone was videotaping so now I'm worried I'm going to be on YouTube!”

Among a list of other questions - What if an employee is not comfortable going to work naked? Or someone feels peer pressured to bare it all just because every other employee at the store is doing it? What if an employee feels like an outcast for wanting to wear a pair of pants to the naked party?

Has LUSH taken going green at work a little too far and managed to create a sexual harassment mess in the process?