10,708 Opt Out of Paper W-2s

Duke is a bit greener, thanks to the choice of 10,708 faculty and staff.

That's how many Duke employees opted out of receiving a paper version of the W-2 tax form, reducing the number of W-2s Duke printed by 22 percent. 

"The response was much higher than we expected," said Anne Comilloni, director of operations for Corporate Payroll Services at Duke. "We saved the equivalent of two Xerox boxes worth of paper and at least a day's worth of work from several departments." 

This year, Duke offered employees the opportunity to opt out of receiving the paper version by visiting the Duke@Work self-service website. Last year, employees had the option of viewing and printing an electronic W-2 form but could not avoid receiving a paper version.

If Duke hadn't offered the opt-out program, payroll would have printed 46,759 W-2 forms. Instead, slightly more than 36,000 were printed. 

The window for opting out of paper for the 2012 tax year has closed, but Payroll plans to make the selection available again in the fall. Employees can view and print online W-2 forms through Duke@Work.