Going Paperless Essay Example

paper, printing costs, fax/copier equipment and supplies, distribution, mailing costs, courier services, filing supplies, and storage space (e. g. , McCory, K. J. , 2009). Storage space can now be immense enough to provide for other parts of the business. Another great advantage is the window of opportunity created in the workplace.

Fewer employees will be needed to occupy employment status such as filing and copying, providing for openings in new avenues of the business. Companies will be able to place employees in specific work areas of the business which will then help the company run more efficiently. Efficient time management plays a huge part in the paperless office. Being efficient means saving time, which means less time on paperwork and more time dedicated to job duties and/or even customers.

Efficient time management is also increased by employees locating specific documents on the computer through organized files, rather than spending time searching through potential misfiled documents or retrieving loose unorganized information. “The man hours of searching for lost paperwork are now over” (Carlson, 2009, p. 51). By looking up documents in a computer; time is saved, all documents are stored in one place, multiple people can view or access these documents if needed, mistakes can easily be adjusted, and work stations are more organized.

Computer documents will be sent electronically/wirelessly throughout the workplace. Damaged products or misplaced mailings are no longer a concern. Time is money! The paperless office, which is now considered “Green”, is now more than ever becoming modernized into current culture. A ‘green’ business effectively uses paper at a minimum, productively recycling to help benefit our environment. The production of paper impacts our environment tremendously,

and has several downfalls. The destruction of forests can be extremely detrimental to plant life and animal habitats.

The acceleration of global warming is one byproduct of eliminating forestry. The production of paper can also lead to adverse effects in our water supply. Large amounts of water are used in paper production, which leads to the lowering of water levels that threaten the fish population. Gases (such as those formed by Greenhouses) are emitted into the atmosphere everyday due to the huge consumption of oil and electricity. A poisonous chemical, such as chlorine, used in the bleaching process is added to help whiten paper and is released into our environment (e. . , Hoekstra et al. , 2010. p. 247).

The environmental benefits would be significant if companies switched to a paperless office. “Each year the switch would: Save 16. 5 million trees (2. 3 million tons of wood). Decrease emission of greenhouse gasses by 3. 9 billion pounds, the equivalent of taking 355,000 cars off the road and reduce fuel consumption by 26 million BTUs, enough energy to provide residential power to San Francisco for a year” (e. g. Abbott, K. 2008). Saving money and the environment provides emphasis on health in general. Ultimately, ‘Healthy’ provides our species as well as the species all around us, with positive stress free futures. Learning by association is one of the most powerful tools in our lives, other than compounding interest. If the process to learn associating healthy, positive attitudes with the ‘paperless environment’, brilliant strides into an invaluable future will began in modern times.