Recently, we have been vocal about the work that we, as a part of Dataplan Group, are doing on our path to become a greener, more environmentally friendly business. In honour of World Environment Day, we would like to discuss how simply partnering with us can be incredibly beneficial to YOUR businesses environmental strategy.
We are all aware of a business’s legal obligation to provide a payslip to employees every pay period. In this modern age, there is a choice for business to supply payslips by the previously conventional paper method or via an online payslip service, such as ePayslips.
This delivery method may seem like a trivial choice that does not lend itself to much consideration. However, this decision bears a considerable amount of weight in the future operations of your business.
To put this into context, something that became prevalent during our most recent carbon audit in 2020 was the sheer scale of greenhouses gasses emitted during the creation and distribution of paper payslips. Paper payslip production amounted to roughly 83% of our entire group’s carbon footprint.
In larger organisations, paper payslips can be a significant factor. Payslips and payroll operations, in general, is often overlooked when analysing a businesses carbon footprint. For example, in one of our larger clients, the University of York, the savings made through transferring to ePayslips back in April 2020 have been incredible.
Before joining ePayslips, their payslips and other payroll-related documentation were printed and delivered by post to home addresses; this totalled 350,000 pieces of paper over five years.
Using paper payslips and delivering them with this method presented several problems. Not only was there the environmental cost of paper, but also delivering these documents to home addresses significantly increased the carbon footprint. Additionally, they would, on occasion, get lost or not reach the intended person, for example, if their address had changed. This presented issues with efficiency and security.
For the above reasons, the University of York decided to go paperless and join us at ePayslips.
Sarah Parkin, Payroll Manager, Finance Shared Services, stated
“It is more secure because they have to have a username and password to log on and view their documents. It also meets accessibility requirements because a paper payslip doesn’t always work for everyone.
There were quite a few reasons why we moved to paperless, and it also provided a cost-saving for the University.”
The University choice to go paperless is part of their increased focus on environmental policies and efforts. Moving to ePayslips has helped them to eliminate a large segment of their carbon footprint.
To celebrate going paperless and to assist with their environmental strategy, the University of York even donated to a charity to donate trees on their behalf. In turn, this exercise neutralised an even bigger portion of their carbon footprint.
