Monday, 19 October 2009
Over the past few years there has been a change in the way we work that has not only affected our shopping habits, it's altered how we design our houses. It's been so fundamental to the shift in our daily life that there are whole shelves of books devoted to it. It's the home office.
Have you noticed how many estate agent's windows now have properties (especially new build) that boast a 'study'? For years this room was only heard of in period dramas on a Sunday night, but now it's almost compulsory for builders to design them into their new homes, but why has this happened?
Well, there appear to be two forces at work here, both of which started in the 1980s. First, there was the home computer. At first it took pride of place in the living room and dad was ousted from his position in front of the TV so the kids could plug in their brand new computer and chase a blob around a screen. They were pretty basic things twenty years ago, but they soon became much more powerful and eventually some could do fairly powerful stuff like allow you to type a letter.
Still, they took up space that was traditionally used for Swap Shop, so something had to change and the change was the computer monitor. Suddenly the computer had its own 'telly' and it could sit on the dining room table. But again, it's taking up space and so many people cleaned out the box bedroom and popped the computer in there - an instant study.
There was a second phenomenon though that had a profound effect on the design of houses and that was the work from home culture. Disguised as a way in which people could be more flexible and achieve a better 'work/life balance', what it actually did was completely ruin the divide between work and home. The study became an extension of the office and now many people started working much longer hours.
However this creation of new office space as fuelled the office supplies market for years and it's easy to see why. Office supplies used to be extremely expensive and a shredder could cost you hundreds of pounds - way out of the budget of most home workers. And so a new range of budget equipment appeared and this was much cheaper, although not as hard-wearing as their expensive brothers.
And now we can find office supplies on the high-street and more importantly, on the Internet - which is where we come in.
The Internet allows people to search, browse and order like never before but the boom in demand actually makes it extremely difficult to choose. Demand has created an enormous supply and there are more devices, brands and types of office equipment than ever before.
There are hundreds of different types of printer available, thousands of paper choices and who can count how many pens you could choose from?
That's why we've made it easy for you. The Office Supplies Supermarket and all it's little brothers and sisters have made choosing the right supplies for your office (home or otherwise) a breeze.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
I'll admit it, I want to sell you equipment for the office and I'm going to attempt to do that at every chance I get. You see, you really do need a new printer for Dave in sales and Julie would be much happier in her day to day work if she could have a new desk. But I'm going to switch off my sales pitch and go all luvvy for a second. You see, you can cheer everyone up really easily.
Buy a plant.
Dr. Roger S. Ulrich of Texas A&M University knows his stuff when it comes to making people tick and he reckons (I'm being flippant, he *proved* it) that when people have an exposure to general greenery in the form of plants and trees in the office, their productivity increases too.
In his words:
"Our research shows that a change as simple as adding flowers and plants can be important in the most meaningful way to businesses in the modern economy," said Dr. Roger Ulrich, lead researcher on the project. "People's productivity, in the form of innovation and creative problem solving, improved - which in certain circumstances could mean the difference between mild and great business success."
Wow. Maybe we should start selling fuchsias?
Time Clocks
Description: Stop counting hours on a stamped piece of paper with a calculator. Our time clocks can integrate into your computer system to make sure your employees work their hours everyday.