Weathering the COVID-19 Crisis

July 1, 2020

What we’ve learned from how sustainability and sustainable companies have weathered the Covid-19 crisis

Happy 1st of July, Sustainable Building Operators!

Please have a read of one of the many recent articles on the future of sustainability and sustainable operations and how companies realize the necessity of furthering the integration of sustainability throughout their organizations.

Moving through this pandemic, it may seem sustainability and, more direct to our field, sustainable operations are taking a backseat in order to ensure our health, safety, and well-being during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, once normal occupancy resumes, recommended building operations practices may contribute to an increase in energy and water use as well as an increase in landfill waste leading building operators to think about putting sustainable operations on hold. However, surveys conducted of business leaders throughout the country show quite the opposite – that sustainability and sustainable operations are more important than ever to a business’s resiliency and survival.

Moving towards reopening post-COVID-19, the role of sustainable operations is becoming increasingly important. Companies are seeing the necessary value of sustainability and sustainable operations and looking to further integrate sustainability into their company’s fabric.

“The next step in the sustainability journey for business is to move sustainability from specialized roles and divisions to become a core functional set of skills and strategies that permeates an organization’s operations.”

Sustainable facility management helps to lay the groundwork to further this integration. By understanding and implementing sustainable best practices, those practices become a part of the day-to-day operations at the workplace. 

Additionally, these best practices not only help guide workplace behavior but also open the door to “why” – “why are these sets of behaviors more sustainable and what is the benefit?”. It’s these guided behaviors along with open dialog that create a natural way towards a more sustainable work culture making our roles as sustainable building operators even more necessary.

Thank you for being a part of the BIT Building community and we look forward to our continued partnership in making the world more sustainable, bit by bit.