Yesterday we noted an upcoming event where you can learn more about what goes on in the minds of your customers' finance management executives, today we take a look at the Human Resources function. Buck Consultants, an HR consulting firm, regularly researches human resources professionals and they've published "The Greening of HR Survey." Over half of the companies surveyed have incorporated environmental management into business operations and have a formal green program in place or plan to implement one in the next 12 months. This survey examines the types of environmentally-friendly initiatives that involve workforce and human resource practices. The results show us that companies are indeed actively implementing green practices and, as providers of sustainably printed materials, we can help them understand the value of print. Note that two of the initiatives highlighted below involve reducing reliance on print. Once again it is up to us to promote the "best use" of print and support online communication with offline materials when appropriate. Get your copy of the survey here. Some of the initiatives they have in place are:

• Using the internet or teleconferencing to cut down on business travel (78%)
• Putting Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs) or other company information online to reduce printing (77%)
• Promoting the reduction of paper usage (76%)
• Implementing wellness programs around proper nutrition, fitness, and healthy living (68%)
• Offering opportunities for employees to "telework" or work from home (57%)
• Ride/Share programs (52%)

More than 60% of companies surveyed have made environmental responsibility a part of their organization's mission statement and view the promotion of social responsibility as the most critical objective of their green programs. As part of your ongoing marketing planning, the chart below from the survey might be very helpful when targeting your own green message.