The recent wintry spell drew media attention not just as a meteorological anomaly. Because many employees could not make it into the office for a few days, or companies simply shut up shop, lost hours of work were lamented in some business quarters. According to The Guardian, the Arctic intrusion may have cost British businesses […]
Researchers at MIT are confirming what we knew all along: that the Post-it Note continues to flourish despite ever-improving software to schedule, organise and otherwise make notes. As researcher David Karger says, “A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to figure out cool new things for computers to do. What’s more interesting […]
One market that hasn’t suffered in the ongoing crisis of capitalism is that for safes. The sale of household safes surged following Northern Rock’s troubles and has continued to rise. Evidently the £50,000 guarantee on bank savings is not reassuring enough for some of us. Consumer organisations such as Which? recommend that for large amounts […]
“Telling it like it is” Office workers get drunk, watch porn Over half of office workers go on the lash at work and about a third perve over porn during work hours, according to research from e-mail security firm Proofpoint who reported that 56% of office workers admitted to returning to work drunk after […]
A researcher at Queensland University of Technology in Australia has conducted a large-scale literature review on open-plan offices and unearthed a panoply of undesirable consequences on health from working in such environments. Dr Vinesh Oommen found that “in 90 per cent of research, the outcome of working in an open-plan office was seen as negative, […]
According to the TUC’s biennial survey of ill health in the workplace, stress is the biggest health and safety worry for office workers in the UK. Injuries and illnesses caused by the poor use of display screen equipment and repetitive strain injuries also score highly as concerns. Three-fifths of safety reps say that stress or […]
The word ‘stationery’ refers to items sold by a stationer – writing materials and such. The word ‘stationary’ means not mobile, still. Both ‘stationery’ and ‘stationary’, however, are derived from the same root, the Latin stationarius meaning a fixed location. The direct adoption in ‘stationer’ of this sense of fixed place is accounted for by […]
“Office manga” has become the latest craze to distract Japan’s overworked and angst-ridden office workers. Comic narratives of everyday office life are proving popular in a way similar to that in which Ricky Gervais’ The Office was popular in Britain and the US. The most popular of the kind is I Am Otaryman which is […]
Computer peripherals developer Keytools has designed and started manufacturing a pointing device, or mouse, which is controlled the feet. The work station user wears special slippers to move the trackball and there are a couple of pedals to ‘click’, just as with a handheld mouse. It is thought the foot mouse will provide a solution […]
According to a new survey commissioned by Xerox, more workers than not (53%) say that printing in colour is a luxury. Over a third (35%) said that expense is the main reason that they did not print more in colour while a majority (82%) said they would print more in colour if it was the […]
How to plan the office Christmas party Whether you count down the days, or desperately scrabble around for an excuse not to go, the office Christmas party is an event on almost every company’s calendar. So, how do you plan a party that everyone will enjoy? It’s a tricky balance to get Bob from Accounts […]
Top tips to improve your time management skills Despite what people say, time is not a commodity. It cannot be traded, expanded or reduced. It is fixed. Our perception of time, however, is another concept. How often do you think at 4pm “Where has the day gone?” and go into panic mode to try to […]
Planning in business is essential Everything from the monthly sales drive to a new product launch or project needs planning. It promotes joined-up thinking and good decision-making throughout the whole organisation. “A goal without a plan is just a wish”, observed the famous writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery, summing up a key business principle. Each business […]
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