Early cuneiform, ca. 3000 BC Office supplies are humdrum. Objects around the office seem to subsist on a mundane plane of existence, interrupting our consciousness only when they are required for some necessary but fundamentally dull task. Scribbling on a Post-it Note, loading Paper into your printer, buying a multipack of biros – what could […]
Does a photo of a loved one adorn your office desk? If so, you’re in a minority. Only 24 percent of office workers have a photograph on their desk, according to a poll commissioned by office design company Maris Interiors. This is down from 29 percent when the survey was conducted in 2010. Of those […]
Recent research has found that jeans are now more common in the workplace than suits and that one in three workers never wear a suit to work. The study of more than 1,000 workers, commissioned by the Chimes Shopping Centre, reveals that scruffiness of ‘Casual Friday’ has seaped into the rest of the workweek, with […]
Hell is other people: Team-building in the modern world Office workers are skeptical of team-building activities such as paintballing and extreme sports, while going out for a drink or meal is seen as more beneficial to a dysfunctional work environment. That’s according to a recent YouGov poll of 1,000 workers commissioned by Vodafone. While the […]
A tidy desk means a tidy mind. Or at least that’s what a majority of office workers think. Almost 60 percent of US office workers judge their colleagues on how clean their desk is, according to a poll commissioned by temp agency Adecco. And almost half admitted they would look on someone negatively if their […]
Suspicious: Janitorial trolley Police are recovering up to 27 tonnes of stolen office supplies from the apartment of a 69-year-old janitor from Stuttgart, Germany. After an anonymous tip-off, the man was questioned by police and admitted to multiple thefts of stationery and cleaning equipment over several decades up to his retirement in 2007. He then […]
A Salford man has been issued with an ASBO and banned from carrying scissors in public after severing hair from the innocent heads of two women. Darren Dixon, 48, sneaked up unwitting victims, lopping chunks of hair off them. Police relayed the experience of one 19-year-old victim in harrowing detail. While walking down the road […]
This sticky tape dispenser fashioned after poultry is available from Neatoshop for $11.95. * * * Sellotape Desktop essentials
The Pope was presented with a huge chocolate Easter egg in the Vatican yesterday. The egg was made by Cremona-based Tosca which specialises in oversized treats. The company donated a 1,000-kilogram panettone to inaugurate the millennium on New Year’s Eve in 1999. The Easter egg stands at six and a half feet tall and weighs […]
The soroban is a type of abacus from Japan which, deriving from the Chinese suanpan, emerged in the 17th century. The soroban survived the arrival of electronic calculators and is used widely in business today. In the last three decades or so, dual soroban-calculators, combining the two calculation tools, have been popular. The model above […]
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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