Using the phone is second nature to most of us moderns so it’s easy to forget that not so long ago the telephone was not such a familiar object. By 1917, telephones were commonplace in offices and many homes, but as this Chesapeake and Potomac Telephony Company guide shows, phone etiquette still had to be […]
Today is the European Day of Languages. The day is intended to show people across Europe how important languages are to to celebrate the linguistic diversity of the world. The day was inaugurated in 1991 by the Council of Europe. To celebrate, we’ve picked some linguistic nuggets from the world of office supplies. The Romanian […]
A German-owned supermarket chain has attracted scorn for selling peeled bananas on plastic trays wrapped in cling film. The company’s Facebook page suffered a torrent of abuse from customers, many of whom threatened to boycott the store. The irony is that that Billa, which has thousands of store across Europe, promotes itself as a “common […]
Office workers’ preference for email and phone over face-to-face communication is undermining their confidence in dealing with people, a poll suggests. The poll of 600 commissioned by officebroker.com found that 68 percent preferred to deal with colleagues via email or telephone, even if they shared the same workplace. Keeping disance to avoid awlward questions, being […]
If you run a workplace with a vigorously anti-smoking or health-promoting policy, you may want to consider this fun bit of history as encouragement to employees instead of duller modern variants of the anti-smoking poster. Yes, believe it or not, a few people in the 1960s were aware that smoking could have a downside. But […]
Paperstone has been shortlisted for the BOSS E-Tailer of the Year award for 2012. The 2012 BOSS Industry Awards will take place on Thursday 18 October at The Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, London. Directors Max Trotter Landry and Jim Brown have already confirmed their attendance. The BOSS (British Office Supplies and Services) Federation is the […]
Far from computers displacing pen and Paper, producing and reading hard copy text serves a function that a PC or Mac can’t replicate. This is the jist of a recent New York Times article, ‘In Defense of the Power of Paper’, which surveys the views of experts on the matter. For productivity expert David Allen, […]
Six in 10 office workers get ‘withdrawal symptoms’ if they lose mobile phone signal for more than an hour, according to a new poll. Some 60 percent of office drones said they become “annoyed or anxious” if deprived of their beloved signal and can’t make calls or receive emails during the working week. A mere […]
If you’ve been living under a rock, you may not have come across a Scottish Fold cat called Maru. Maru is a resident of Japan and a YouTube superstar who has a particular penchant for cardboard boxes. Videos of his box antics have received some 158 million hits. Maru recently starred in an advert for […]
As many as 5.7 million people could be suffering from allergic-type reactions in their office, according to a survey of 1,003 office workers by Allergy UK. Over a quarter said their allergic symptoms worsen at the office. Symptoms include nasal problems, breathing difficulties, headaches and skin irritations. Sixty-two percent of respondents reported suffering itchy or […]
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 […]
Recent Comments