Old Styling at Work

scuzz

I would've thought a hand drier, as there's nothing sent to landfil.

But we use regular towels here, and one of us takes it home each week and throws it in with our own washing.

Old business cards are great for taking phone messages

Savvy_Sue

ashmit wrote:

You are a genius.


And again I say, you are a genius. I don't have any uses for that one personally right now but I will pass it on to the other secretaries at the next meeting.

Not so much a genius, as not too proud to pinch a good idea off someone else! The yellow highlighter one I got from one of my team in my last job, and I swear by it now!

ashmit

scuzz wrote:

I would've thought a hand drier, as there's nothing sent to landfil.

Yep, but a lot of electricity wasted. Maybe I should just drip dry

But we use regular towels here, and one of us takes it home each week and throws it in with our own washing.

We're not allowed to do that... fear of salmonella?!?

RachelD

I used to arrange all the maintenance /upkeep/decoration etc for my office. It was my first job there. I used to reckon I could save the company my salary in a year. I only did the job for a year before I got promoted on to something else, but here's what I did.

* organised a water meter - it saved about £10K in the first year. We also used to waste a lot of water because the urinals were flushed through automatically every so many minutes- even at weekends when no-one was there. We eventually found a device to stop this.

* organised particular firms to be available for call-out for things like blocked loos, electrical faults. We had specialist maintenance for the lift and big stuff but just used to call out an expensive emergency plumber for the blocked loos.
* bought energy saving fridges as soon as one 'died'.

* at that time we leased all our telephones from BT. I found a a firm that sold refurbished telephones and bought however many we needed. It saved a fortune on leasing costs.

* organised the recycling thing with the council. It was always a problem getting staff to put their sandwich wrappers and apple cores separately from paper and the cleaners used to just lump it all together anyway in the same black bag. Just buying separate coloured plastic bags for different waste was a great success. The staff and cleaners could remember which colour bag to use.


We also set the printer and photocopier to print on both sides of the paper. Amazing how much that saves.

One thing that doesn't work is buying cheap copy paper - it just jams and you spend more time unjamming the printer or copier.

I moved on from that job and I do all the saving things mentioned by everyone. Any waste paper I cut into 2 and make jotters with a simple bulldog clip or cut into 4 for quick telephone message pads. I used to buy those pretty cubes of paper in stationers for home telephone messages, now I just cut up waste paper from the computer to the right size to fill the block..



Rachel

colin_tomlinson

ashmit wrote:

oh, you know what really bugs me? Our printers are set to double sided. If I'm printing agendas for a meeting, it takes that to mean that one agenda should be printed each side. Now THAT is a waste of ink (I give any ones that misprint when I forget to sort it out to internal staff, so they're not wasted, but it's very frustrating!).

Try talking to the techie who set it to double-sided. Even on the double-sided setting, a new document should go on a new page. Consider if you were sending out mail-merge letters to customers: it just wouldn't do to have Mrs Jones' letter on the back of Mrs Henderson's!

Failing co-operation from the powers that be, just add a blank page at the end of your memo (Ctrl+Enter starts a new page), then you'll have a two-page document, agenda on one side, blank (page 2) on the other.

colin_tomlinson

I'm not sure if taking home paper to use as scrap pads is acceptable under the terms of the Data Protection Act.

If printers don't have a double-sided setting, you can always have a box of paper that's been previously printed on one side to use for office copies (eg file copy of a letter, database printout etc).

Instead of using paper for telephone messages, what about Notepad on the computer? Then get really savvy and copy and paste it into an email for the intended recipient. Even save a copy on your computer in case you're asked if you still have the number 3 weeks later.

colin_tomlinson

Try introducing this system to get files re-used. First, you could try labelling in pencil, but people still have a want to have their papers in new files.

This system has many benefits, apart from saving on stationery costs, although I'm afraid it isn't exactly "old style".

Instead of labelling files with the name of the contents, use a number. Label more files than you currently need, so there are always files ready to be used. (These files could be lever arches or suspension drawer files - although the system lends itself to anything you can number, even boxes.)

In a database/spreadsheet, set up a table headed No, Title, Keywords. That's three columns, and under the first heading add all the numbers you've just labelled the files (use Fill>Series, no need to type in each one!), BUT DON'T USE THE ROW NUMBERS - the reason why will become apparent. In the Title column goes what would normally be on the file itself, although obviously, there's much more room for longer titles in the table. Finally add keywords - other words that may come to mind when looking for these papers (etc) if the title doesn't. Finally, sort the table by title column for a handy index (which you may want to print - don't print the keywords, select the first two columns then choose "Print Selection" in the print menu).

When you want to find something, it it's not immediately apparent which file from the alphabetical title, use Find (usually Ctrl+F) and key in whatever you're looking for. I usually add the last 4 digits of the account number with the bank/company to the keywords, so I've something easy to search for if none of my other keywords work!

When files are emptied, just delete that row (except the file number), re-sort the index and the empty file is at the bottom with the other blanks waiting to be re-used.

Here are some other benefits:

- If you're working with someone who's mind works differently to yours, they can add their own keywords to help them find what they're looking for.
- If you change your mind about the title of the file, you can just alter the table.
- The length of the file name is (within reason) unlimited.
- When you're filing, you can start a new file easily, and it's already labelled. (When you get close to using them all, label another 20 or 50 depending.)
- It's quicker because it's obvious how much further after 27, 55 is. Whereas how much further back Jones is after Harris is not so obvious. Also, you probably have more than one Jones file, although there's only one 55!
- Files are labelled in one go, so there are always some ready for use and no more moving up all those little tabs when you add a "Budget" or (worse-still) "Accommodation" file!
- Which file has the bank statements and other sensitive information? You certainly can't tell by looking at the file: great security feature to deter nosey-parkers or would-be fraudsters.
- YOU CAN FILE SAT DOWN! Just write the number of the file in the corner of each paper and then eventually get up to drop them in the relevant files.

It's so flexible! Many companies are starting to file like this. With most filing systems, it can take an age categorising and sub-categorising. With this system, just make sure you add a relevant keyword for the document (although you won't need to catalogue every single piece of paper).

Consider if a rep has a road accident. Do the papers go in the rep's file, the car's file, the health file, the legal file or the insurance file? Don't sweat about it! Just add the keyword "accident" to the most logical file (to you) and you'll easily find them again.

Also, there's no need for files that relate to one another to be together. AND FORGET USING SUB-DIVIDERS. I used to work in an office where we had a file for "Air Lines" and then smaller files within for "British Airways", "EasyJet", "Ryan Air" etc. When did we ever need the BA and EasyJet files at the same time? Even if you do, you can swap to use consecutive files. If you often use files 27 and 55 at the same time, swap the contents of files 28 and 55 and then do the same with the text in the table (ie change 28 to 55 and vice versa).

I know it sounds far too complex at first go, but it really is a dream to use. (That's why I'm so full of it when I'm telling you!) I've introduced several people to it and, after a few days of getting used to it, all have said they'd never return to alphabetic/hierarchical filing. A dyslexic friend has introduced it to his office and is constantly amazed that he can now find things - and at how quickly.

Finally, you can even use this system to ... wait for it ... CLEAR YOUR DESK.

Number some suspension files A1 to A10 (or A20/A500 as appropriate) - A for Action and put them in your pedestal or nearby drawer. Add these rows to your table (or create a separate one). Put the piles that fill your desk into these folders with relevant titles and keywords. Then add an "Action date" column to the table, so you don't forget the deadlines. Daily, review what's in your drawer (by looking at the table) and dig out the papers when you're ready to work on them. When you've done the job and filed away the papers you need to keep (in the main system), just delete the cells in the table (ie leave just the row number, eg A7).

colin_tomlinson

filigree wrote:

I wonder if anyone knows the answer to this? I would like to know which is the more economical - printing with a laser printer or photocopying.

Since photocopiers and laser printers work in EXACTLY the same way, there's probably very little in it. If you use a lot of forms, it's worth having them printed professionally as cheaper in the long run ... but then there's storage issues, the need to change the form design etc etc.

inkie

Just found this thread - what interesting reading. As I use my car for business and clain the mileage - if i am doing a business journey, at the same time I try and get in any essential personal business at the same time without incurring any extra miles on the journey - killing two birds with one stone!

scuzz

Just managed to talk my boss into addressing the energy issue at work. Said I'm disgusted with all the plugs left switched on and not doing anything

We've also started recycling old printer cartridges

Stamps are saved these days too in a reused box on my desk, ready to give to charity