Reduce your utility costs

Utilities can account for a sizeable chunk of your firm's costs, but you might find that you can make considerable savings in this area. Here are some cost-cutting ideas:

• Offer bonuses and other incentives for noteworthy conservation, and circulate copies of your firm's energy bills to remind employees of your commitment to reducing costs in this area
• Ask employees to turn off and cover up all equipment at the end of every day where appropriate - this not only saves power but also extends the life of your equipment
• Install time clocks to control heating, air conditioning, and lighting
• Turn the temperature setting on your thermostats down during the winter and, if you have air conditioning, up during the summer
• Your offices could be over-lit in areas such as storage rooms, south-facing offices, or the staff room. Remove bulbs or fluorescent tubes to bring lighting down to an appropriate level
• Encourage employees to turn off fluorescent lights when they leave a room for more than fifteen minutes, and incandescent lights if they leave for three minutes or more
• Reduce bulb wattage wherever possible
• Replace standard fluorescent and incandescent lights with high-efficiency fluorescent light, which gives the same light output and can save up to 80% of the energy according to the energy trust.
• Install 5-minute shut-off switches in stock rooms or other little-used areas
• Appoint a specialist to review your utility bills in case you are overlooking something