Lurking on LinkedIn | Should employers scrap business cards?

For many years, business cards have played an important role in the corporate world. When business people attend networking events, business cards allow them to easily share contact information rather than writing it down on a crumpled napkin. Aside from holding important contact information, business cards also serve as a promotional tool for businesses or company divisions. Yet, in an age where a large portion of professional communication is conducted online – via email or networking sites such as LinkedIn – should employers be keen to swap printed business cards for an eco-friendlier alternative?

This is a debate that Dean Carter, HR, Legal, Finance and Shared Services at Patagonia, sparked on LinkedIn earlier this month. “Do we absolutely 100% need to use energy and trees to print business cards that change every time we get a new role or a new title?” Carter probed. He questioned whether the “old tradition” of printed business cards were still needed in an era when LinkedIn is perceived by many as the go-to when communicating with new contacts. With so many employers assessing current business practices through a sustainable lens, could waving goodbye to printed business cards help firms get one step closer to becoming more eco-friendly?

How popular are business cards in today’s employment market?

While scrapping printed business cards altogether may seem like a sensible, sustainable ploy, statistics have illustrated just how heavily employers rely on business cards in the corporate world – and that’s even in a digital age. According to statistics collated by Credit Donkey, 2017 data revealed that 27million business cards are printed on a daily basis, with a mindboggling ten billion printed throughout the year. But the sad part is that within a week, eight billion (or 88% of those printed) of those business cards will be chucked away which is a considerable waste of money and resources. While it getting rid of them altogether may be better for the environment, is this a viable move for business leaders?