Pen To Paper - Spring 2018

Spring 2018 | P2P Magazine | 19 www.p2pmag.co.uk RESEARCH Time to call off the search, says Fellowes UK office workers are wasting more than one million hours a week searching for misplaced documents at an annual cost of £20 million. Research by office products specialist Fellowes also reveals that half of UK workers have documents more than a year old on their desks; one in five has paperwork more than five years old cluttering up their workspace. Even so, most office workers are confident that they have things under control. Just 10% said their documents were disorganised and hard to locate. Survey respondents were less forgiving of co-workers’ habits, with 40% complaining that they waste up to an hour a week as a result of colleagues’ poor organisational skills. Only one third (32%) of office workers tidy their desks every week, with slightly more admitting that they only tidy their desk if their boss or a client is coming into the office. This is despite the fact that more than 80% believe an organised desk would make them more productive The cost of print Businesses are wasting thousands of pounds per employee by overly relying on paper-based processes, warns WorkMobile, a mobile data capture service provider. Its survey of 1,000 workers highlights the enduring appeal of the printed page, with 60% of employees printing documents at least a few times every week and 30% printing every day. However, the survey also suggests that some of this printing is unnecessary, with two thirds (67%) of respondents saying their business is over-reliant on paper-based processes such as the use of printed forms and the sending of documents through the post. WorkMobile calculates that the cost to these businesses of processing paperwork, including printing, transporting documents, data entry and storage, could amount to more than £2,000 per employee, per year. Colin Yates, chief support officer at WorkMobile, points out that the true cost could be higher still when you factor in the impact of manual processing on productivity and efficiency. He said: “Relying on physical documents is also stopping workers from being as productive as they could be. They often spend large amounts of time filling in forms by hand or searching for documents in poor filing systems. This time could be spent more effectively on the worker’s actual core role, helping to bring in more revenue for the company.” Over half (53%) of employees admit they find it hard to keep paper files organised; 43% say filling in paper forms and documents takes too long; and 30% say they spend too much time sending documents to the correct recipients. Yates added: “Using technology, such as mobile devices and the Cloud, helps to eliminate the need for physical paperwork, which as a result can reduce business costs and improve efficiency. Businesses really can’t afford to ignore the current technical revolution.” www.workmobileforms.com/research-and- whitepapers/ and 45% think it would improve their chances of promotion. Overall, half of office workers say workplace design, environment and organisation has a positive impact on their productivity. Commenting on the findings, Fellowes UK sales and marketing director Darryl Brunt said: “An organised workforce is an efficient workforce, regardless of industry sector. Looming GDPR regulations should be an incentive for employers to tighten their organisational strategies by encouraging workers to use filing and storage solutions properly and shredding sensitive information that is no longer required. Ensuring client data is logged properly and stored securely will become a necessity come May.” In a separate survey conducted by Fellowes last year, 44% of respondents said they had seen printed confidential documents at work. One fifth also admitted to never shredding work documents, leaving them vulnerable to prying eyes. www.fellowes.co.uk UK business pays a high price for disorganised employees, with UK office workers wasting seven days a year searching for documents Top Tips Records storage brand Bankers Box by Fellowes offers the following tips for efficient document storage in 2018:  1 A good filing and storage system helps you become more organised and productive, a perfect way to get your workspace back in order; 2 Use a Records Management System to understand what documents you need and where they should go. Are they active, semi-active, archival or for disposal?; 3 Keep your documents organised and secure using an assortment of strong storage boxes for easy transport and file access; 4 Once you have organised your documents, shred anything you no longer need; and 5 Plan a file clear-out every six to 12 months to get rid of out-of-date or unnecessary files. www.bankersbox.com An organised workforce is an efficient workforce, regardless of industry sector