May 25, 2013

PRINTING WASTES MORE THAN JUST PAPER

Need another reason to encourage your employees to go paperless? A new study reveals that printing may be cutting down on their productivity.

The "Dick Smith Productivity Study" released earlier this month shows that office workers spend an exorbitant amount of time dealing with printer problems while on the job.

How much time does dealing with printer jams and other technical issues related to printers waste? The study estimates that the average office worker in the U.S. will spend enough time struggling with printers each year to add up to two full weeks of work. At that rate, if an employee were to remain with a company for 25 years, nearly one full year of their salary would be paid to them just for the type they spent trying to make documents print.

Companies that wish to reduce time wasted on printer problems can work to make more functions paperless. Online forms, electronic record keeping and paperless signature collection can all reduce how much printing occurs in workplaces. Encouraging workers to save emails and PDF documents instead of printing them can also help to minimize problems.

How is your company fostering a more paperless workplace? Share your strategies and techniques in the "Comments" section.