Leveraging Work-From-Home Policies to Help Others in Need

While it may be too soon to understand every long-term effect of the coronavirus pandemic, one thing is for sure – it won’t be a return to business as usual for people working in an office.

Right now, offices all over the world sit vacant as millions of corporate employees work from home. More than half of these remote workers want to continue to work from home long after lockdown restrictions soften.

Some might get their wish as temporary work-from-home (WFH) policies become permanent. Others may have to return to the office, but they can expect massive changes to their daily 9–5 routines.  Staggered shifts, greater distances between desks, and restructured social spaces are likely to become the new norm.

Between smaller in-house numbers and new safety protocols, it’s the perfect time to refresh and re-access your office space and de-densify your floorplans.

What will you do with all the extra chairs, desks, and shelving units you won’t need?

Here at Green Standards, we believe these sweeping changes to the status quo represent an exciting opportunity for you to clear out your workspace and do good.  We manage the removal of parts/pieces while workspaces are being reconfigured to meet new company wide safety guidelines. Rather than liquidate your office surplus, we can help you sustainably donate office furniture to non-profits in need.

More still, if you have high-value items in large quantities, we can sell them to generate revenue that offsets project costs. Our North America wide network of resellers will keep your company’s items out of landfill and in use with other businesses.

Non-Profits Need Our Help More Than Ever

The social impact of COVID-19 hasn’t affected everyone equally. Well known tech company CEOs like Twitter and Square’s Jack Dorsey or Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg will permanently extend their WFH orders. In this trend, once lockdown orders lift, their employees are free to choose whether they go into the office or work from home.

Charities that work in the medical field and non-profits that work directly with the public don’t have this luxury. Their volunteers are on the frontlines helping people in need, and many organizations are busier now more than ever.

Green Standards is aligned with its charitable network of over 17,000 non-profits, and ensuring delivery of donations are made in a safe and distanced manner, while also assisting in creating COVID policy and plans for clients decommissioning spaces.

How Your Used Office Furniture Can Help

In a post-pandemic world, it’s possible your current office space won’t uphold the safety standards your employees will expect for their return. You’ll likely need to tweak collaborative workspaces to provide safe physical distances, and you may even have to invest in new equipment to create individual workstations again.

Through this transformation, you’ll wind up with a lot of equipment on your hands that you can’t use. Normally, unnecessary assets would get sent to the landfill. But junk haulers are costly, and this service benefits no one but the moving company you pay to toss your furniture.

At Green Standards, we understand the true value of your excess furnishings. That’s why we offer a simple turnkey service to manage the resale, recycling, and in-kind donations of your office surplus. This three-step process is inspired by the circular economy to ensure your project remains sustainable.

First, we explore the resale potential of your surplus because — let’s admit it — a revitalization project can get expensive. If you have high-value items in your inventory, we’ll sell them to generate revenue for your project and protect your bottom line.

Next up, we donate gently used office furniture to schools, foundations, charities, social programs, and more. Our team finds a new home for gently used office furniture by tapping into our network of 17,000+ non-profit partners. With a network this big, we connect you with the right people — whether you champion health services and affordable housing or support the critical fight for equality.

Free office furniture donations can make a profound difference to charities working on small margins. By donating gently used office furniture, you’re giving them the professional tools to deliver their services more efficiently. At no cost to them, this in-kind donation helps them focus their resources on what really matters.

Lastly, any equipment left behind will be recycled, ensuring valuable natural resources stay out of the waste stream.

How We’ve Turned Waste into Social Change

With our help, you can pivot your office revitalization into a meaningful charitable donation.

In the past, we’ve worked with United Airlines to donate office furniture to the American Red Cross by facilitating their 360,000 square foot office decommission. Today, the American Red Cross provides integral support for quarantine shelters, delivers food to vulnerable people, and offers free medical services during the pandemic.

Through our partnership with Frost Bank, we facilitated $100,000 of in-kind donations to 29 local charities, including Habitat for Humanity, which has gone on to provide affordable housing to people affected by COVID-19.

More recently, we’ve teamed up with RAIN Incubator, a non-profit life science innovation hub. With our free office furniture, RAIN was able to convert an office space into a lab where they continue to conduct essential COVID-19 research.

Thanks to these corporate partners and others like them, Green Standards can celebrate a special milestone. We’ve now donated more than $30 million worth of used office furniture to non-profits!

See the Environmental Impact of Your Good Deed

Under strict WFH orders, office employees have ditched their daily commutes to work for kitchen counters, coffee tables, or — if they’re lucky — a separate room away from the kids.

In just a few short months, our new lockdown habits have already had an impact on the natural world around us. People in Jalandhar can see the Himalayas for the first time in decades. Clear waters flow through the Venice canals. And wild animals, under no such orders to quarantine, enjoy newfound freedom to roam city streets.

With fewer people on the roads, most flights grounded, and factories shutdown, the changes are even visible from space. In April, NASA reported a drop in air pollution over the northeastern U.S.

There’s no denying our actions have an effect on the environment, so don’t overlook the environmental impact of your next office refresh. The typical revitalization, relocation, or closure leaves behind a massive eco-footprint with 8.5 million tons of office furniture going to landfill each year.

Since our inception, we’ve diverted more than 90,000 tons of office assets from landfill, impacted more than 5,000 non-profits, and boast a 98.6 percent landfill diversion rate across all projects.

By switching out your liquidation for a sustainable office decommission, you can keep your assets out of the landfill and channel them into local communities. And remember, what can’t be donated will be sold or recycled.

As one of America’s Fastest Growing Companies in 2020 and 2021, we’re excited to keep this ball rolling. So, if you’re planning on revitalizing your corporate space soon, let us show you how to get rid of used office furniture by tapping into the circular economy.

But we provide more than just a waste solution; we give you the marketing tools you need to demonstrate your corporate social responsibility to the world.

Our cloud-based reporting tracks the environmental and social impact of your decommission. This kind of detailed oversight mitigates risks, all while providing you with straightforward stats that are easy to share. We’ll help you explore these fantastic PR opportunities to create social media content, company-wide newsletters, and press releases for your local media outlet.

Ready to get some recognition for your good deeds? Now’s the perfect time to transform your office and do some good, so get in touch with us today. Our sustainable office decommission services can fit within an existing revitalization budget, proving its unrivaled value for your business, your community, and the greater environment.