“A penny saved is a penny earned.” – Benjamin Franklin (One of the Founding Fathers of the United States)
One of the primary concerns of most businesses and organisations is being cost effective and ensuring that the company funds are put to good use. The right way to achieve this is not by reducing procurement but by reducing wastage and misuse of office supplies and stationery, which can actually punch a big hole into the company funds and increase overhead costs in the long run.
The two main areas of office supplies that are generally more prone to get wasted are Stationery and Paper Products. However, the good news is that all one needs is just a little bit of caution and care to curb this wastage. That’s why; starting today, let’s make conservation a habit not just for environmental causes but even in the office as well.
Keep a Check on Office Stationery to Reduce Wastage!
Without anyone to manage and keep an eye on office stationery, their consumption can often go out of hand. Appointing an in-charge for managing office supplies and stationery is a good idea to ensure that they are not being misused.
a) This way it will also help you understand which office supplies are most in-demand and which lie at the bottom as redundant resources, to help you order appropriately the next time.
b) Instead of simply handing over office stationery every time an employee asks for it, keep a track in an office stationery register. With this step, once the numbers are in front of them, employees will automatically get conscious of borrowing office stationery like pens or notepads too often and will try to use them judiciously.
c) As a more frantic measure, you can also assign specific office stationery and their respective quantities for each employee per month based on his or her role. So if everyone knows that they can get only three pens or one marker in a month, they will take care to not lose it.
Reuse and Recycle Paper and Paper Products!
Another highly misused and wasted office supplies are paper. According to the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. Surely, most of us can make do with a little less! While paper is recyclable, don’t you think it’s a better idea to cut down on its wastage at the primary level as even for recycling, the paper needs to be collected, transported and processed, which, in-turn is an additional expense.
a) The first thing to do here is to educate and create awareness amongst employees. You can start a ‘Save Paper – Save Trees’ campaign at your work place, rewarding employees who strictly follow this practice.
b) Use one-sided paper that’s no longer needed to make notes and rough drafts instead of using fresh paper, post-its and notepads every time.
c) You can also use paper once shredded as packaging supplies to protect fragile items while shipping.
d) Save printer paper by encouraging employees to print on both sides whenever possible.
e) Likewise, you can re-use envelopes, packaging supplies and cardboard boxes that your company has received.
Even small measures taken at the right time can lead to big changes. We hope following these simple yet effective tips will help reduce wastage of office supplies in the long run at your workplace!
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