How To Keep Your Office Productive and Engaged During Summer

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Summer has now hit the UK – and your office needs to be ready.

Warmer weather has a profound impact on Britain; our railways stop working and  our roads have the potential to literally melt. However, for the people of the United Kingdom, summer is a great thing! The warm weather has been proven to improve people’s moods and encourages them to get out and be more sociable.

Unfortunately, these benefits often don’t always transfer over to the office. A recent study found that productivity in the workplace decreases by 20% during summer. In addition to this, it was also found that attendance decreases by 19%, projects take 13% more time to complete and workers are 45% more distracted.

None of these statistics are ideal for your business, so today we’re going to be sharing our top tips for keeping your office engaged and productive, even in this summer heat.

1. Make sure you’re keeping the office temperature cool – but don’t overdo the air conditioning

Uncomfortable temperatures are one of the largest factors that prohibit productivity. Being too hot in summer can cause dehydration, light-headedness and headaches – not to mention, far more serious problems like heatstroke or heat-exhaustion.

Making sure that the temperature that your office workers are working in is neutral and comfortable is essential for them being able to actually work.

However, having the AC blasting too high can have the opposite effect. While working in heat can cause your employees to suffer, working in the cold is just as bad!

2. Encourage your employees to stay hydrated and, if you don’t already, provide free water

The effects of dehydration cannot be overstated – for health purposes, let alone productivity the workplace. The effects of dehydration include:

  • Dizziness or light-headedness
  • Headaches
  • Dry skin
  • Drowsiness

These symptoms of dehydration will all have a direct impact on productivity; if your employees are tired, dizzy and suffering from migraines, how will they be able to concentrate? How can they focus on their work? They can’t – and your business’s output will suffer for it.

Worse than this, dehydration can actually lead to worse, potential long-term health problems such as:

  • Heat injury.
  • Urinary and kidney problems.
  • Seizures.
  • Low blood volume shock (hypovolemic shock).

As you can see, making sure that your employees are hydrated throughout the day is essential. Not only should you encourage your employees to bring in their own water, you should provide free, accessible water for your office.

3. Flexible hours

Another possible avenue to consider is the introduction of flexible working hours. In summer, employees typically want to be in the sun, not cooped up in the office, so introducing more flexible hours can be the best of both worlds.

A lot of companies see success with this tactic. Employees are more engaged with the business as they appreciate the flexibility – and are more productive during their working hours. As we’ve already discussed in this blog, working more hours doesn’t amount to doing more work – it’s how productive your employees are during the time that they’re working that you need to focus on.

A few ideas for a flexible summer hours policy include:

  • “Early weekend” – on Fridays, allow employees to leave an hour early.
  • Start earlier, finish earlier – during summer, it can just get hotter and hotter as the day gets on, so some people may want to start early and spend less time in the heat.
  • Working from home (/remotely) options – we’ve covered the various benefits of working from home in detail on this blog already (as well as the drawbacks), but it can allow employees to work from the comfort of their own home – which is a big bonus in this often uncomfortable weather.

4. Encourage vacations

You may be slightly taken aback by this next tip – we are, after all, trying to keep your employees at work and fighting fit. However, as we’ve discussed in our post about taking breaks during the workday, one of the most beneficial things for your productivity happens to be not working!

Let’s face it: your employees are all dreaming about taking full advantage of the summer months by going on holidays and escaping to the beach. Why not encourage them to take a trip so that they’re refreshed and ready to work when they get home?

5. Buy desk fans and/or office fans

A quick way to cool down the office? Try investing in some office fans!

Two of the issues that can arise when relying on air conditioning to keep your office cool are that air conditioning can be too harsh – and that someone will always want it on a different setting. Making use of desk fans is a perfect solution to this problem; employees can control how hot or cold their environment is to suit their individual needs.

6. Encourage employees to take short breaks

Short breaks during the workday can help employees to consistently work productively.

In 2008, a University of Illinois study found that the brain’s cognitive resources drop after a long period of focusing on a single task, decreasing our focus and hindering performance. Breaks act as a mental reset and allow us to come back more focused and productive. – Source

During summer, there are so many things waiting to distract your employees – the insufferable heat, the arguments over the air conditioning, the looking out the window and daydreaming about the beach – that it’s inevitable. Why not get ahead of it and encourage your employees to take the breaks that they need?

7. Prioritise communication and most important work in the morning

Our last tip is to take advantage of the most productive time of day – the morning. Mornings will generally be the coolest part of working hours, plus your employees haven’t been cooking in the heat all day; these are optimal working conditions.

If you can prioritise tasks and schedule the most important ones for this time of day, you’ll be getting the hard part out of the way straight off the bat.

We hope you found these tips helpful and will be able to implement some of them in your workplace this summer. If you found this post useful, don’t forget to share.

 

10 Ways To Improve Office Productivity

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When you work in an office, your workday is generally somewhat monotonous – stare at computer, read emails, type, scroll, repeat. Factor this in with the fact that most of us are now working in open offices (which are notoriously hard to focus in), and you can imagine that it’s easy for productivity in the office to drop-off sometimes.

Today, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the ways you can improve productivity when working in the office.

1. Use ergonomic furniture and sit correctly

Sitting at a desk all day can wreak havoc on your posture. It’s common for office workers, who spend their days hunched over a computer, to suffer from back and neck pain at work – as well as when they get home.

Over time, these effects can develop into long-term chronic conditions. Not only is this bad for your employees, but this can also cause increases in employee absenteeism and lower productivity when people are at work. Meaning it has a negative impact on your bottom line too.

The best way to prevent this is to make sure that your employees are spending their time using comfortable furniture. Ergonomic furniture is designed to support the body’s natural posture; fully adaptable to the person using it, ergonomic furniture allows employees to customise their working experience to suit their needs.

Here at Quills, we provide a wide range of ergonomic furniture suitable for a variety of budgets. Feel free to get in touch to request a quote.

2. Track and limit how much time you’re spending on tasks

Did you know that only around 17% of people can accurately describe the passage of time?

Think about that for a moment. When you have a set amount of tasks to do in a day, how important is knowing how long each will take? Essential. If you think something will take 10 minutes, but it will actually take 30 . . . how many other tasks will get missed out?

The only way to effectively manage your time is to understand how much of it you actually have. Start tracking how much time each task takes you – and limit yourself to spending a set amount of time on certain things. This will help you get more out of your day.

3. Take regular breaks

Productivity for 8 hours straight sounds amazing – but it’s not a reality.

In 2008, a University of Illinois study found that the brain’s cognitive resources drop after a long period of focusing on a single task, decreasing our focus and hindering performance. Breaks act as a mental reset and allow us to come back more focused and productive.

The science behind this is that our brains have two functions; “focused” and “diffuse” mode. Focused is for things like reading, learning and concentrating; diffuse mode is for day-dreaming and relaxing. While on the surface focus mode may seem like the optimal setting . . . “some studies have shown that the mind solves its stickiest problems while daydreaming—something you may have experienced while driving or taking a shower.”

The most productive workers actually take a 17-minute break for every 52 minutes they work.

4. Personalise your office space

Personalising your office space can make your office a happier place to work. Adding some personal touches to your desk, like family photos, is a great way to add some warmth and personality to your workspace.

5. Block out time to respond to emails

One of the largest productivity killers in the modern office? Emails. Everyone will be familiar with the scenario of having to answer so many emails that hours go by . . . but nothing really gets done. In fact, too many emails is the leading cause of lost productivity in the UK.

So the question becomes: how do you gain this time back? You can’t stop answering emails – what if you miss important things? Plus, your co-workers may perceive you as rude.

Give yourself set times to check and respond to emails. Don’t let your email inbox creep into the rest of your work.

6. Leave for lunch

We’ve already spoken about the benefits of taking breaks during the workday – but one essential break you should be taking? Your lunch hour. Eating at your desk has a whole host of unhealthy effects on you – and your productivity.

7. Stop multi-tasking

We are constantly bombarded with things fighting for our attention. On your average desk, think about how many things are sitting there waiting to distract you. Your email inbox, Facebook, Twitter, your phone, Candy Crush, that group chat on WhatsApp, your colleague chatting behind you, the phone ringing . . .

The modern office is not necessarily great for focusing. However, for optimal productivity, you need to resist the urge to flit between tasks and stop multi-tasking. Multi-tasking impairs cognitive function, short-term lowers your IQ – and can even permanently damage your brain.

8. Get enough sleep

This tip may sound obvious, but a surprising number of people don’t actually get enough sleep – something that we all know results in your body not functioning as well as it should be. To keep productive throughout the workday, you need to make sure that your body is rested up and fuelled.

9. Eat the right snacks

Snacking throughout the workday can help you keep your energy levels high and sustained throughout the day, but you need to ensure that you’re eating the right kind of food. It can be tempting to load up on sugar for the quick energy boost; however, sugary foods follow their high with a crash.

Make sure that you’re fuelling your body with the correct foods throughout the day. Here’s a list of healthy office snacks to keep your energy high all day.

10. Add plants to the office

To conclude this post, our last suggestion for improving productivity in the office is the introduction of office plants.

Plants in the office have a multitude of proven benefits. (And those are the best kind!) We’ve written an entire post explaining how plants can boost workplace health, happiness and satisfaction – but the purpose of this post is specifically productivity, so we’ll keep it brief.

Studies have shown that introducing plants to the workplace can improve productivity by as much as 17% – Source

Hopefully this post gave you some inspiration for ways to improve your productivity in the office!

5 Ways To Prepare Your Office For GDPR (Infographic)

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As of May 25th, the GDPR is now in full effect. However, this doesn’t mean you should stop with all of your GDPR preparations; if anything, it means you need to be triple checking that they’re firmly in place.

When you’re working in an office, there is usually a lot of data floating around – and a lot of potential data breaches. A lot of companies think that their GDPR compliance stops at re-opting in campaigns, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Today, we’re going to share 5 ways to ensure your office is GDPR compliant.

1. Encrypted USBs

Data will, at times, need to leave the office. People may want to work remotely or files may need to be taken to show to clients. However, data shouldn’t be taken off-site without protection.

Encrypted USBs ensure that all files are securely stored and password protected, meaning that they are inaccessible to the wrong eyes – even if you lose the USB.

We’ve written an entire post detailing the various features of encrypted USBs and their benefits here.

Buy Encrypted USBs

2. Shredders

Most offices will print some form of physical data throughout their opening hours . . . but where do these documents go when you don’t need them anymore? To ensure the data is securely destroyed, you need to invest in shredding. There are solutions available where third parties can come and collect your documents and shred them on your behalf, or (if your office has the budget) you could invest in a secure shredder for your office.

If you’d like to read more about our shredding solutions, feel free to review our full shredding service list.

3. Archiving

Not all data can be destroyed – so you need to figure out a safe and secure way to store data you want to keep. Archiving can be the perfect solution.

Quills provide complete archiving solutions; see if we can help you.

4. Secure Printers

Did you know that printers are one of the office’s most vulnerable openings for hackers? Think about how much confidential data can pass through printers (HR scanning things like passports, faxed documents, printed documents) – just waiting for someone to steal it.

Last year, a viral “prank” made the internet rounds when a hacker tapped into over 150,000 printers and printed ASCII art as a warning to highlight how vulnerable printers are.

Image result for printers hacked

While this hacker had good intentions, many won’t.

We offer “Quills Secure Software“; a print solution that will help to keep your printers secure.

5. Privacy Screens

Have you ever considered visual hacking? It may sound like some sci-fi film tech, but it’s actually happening right now, no tech involved. Visual hacking is just when people are able to look at your screen and read your data – and it happens more often than you’d think.

55% of professionals work in a high-traffic area at least once a week (coffee shop, hotel lounge, library, internet cafe, etc.) where their screens are visible to passers by.

Privacy screens make your screen unreadable to anyone sitting at an angle. You have clear vision of your screen, but anyone sitting next to you will have their sight obstructed.

Buy Privacy Screens

We hope this brief post gave you some inspiration for ways to tighten your office’s data security. If you’re a customer of ours and are wondering what we can do for you, feel free to get in contact.

Call: 0845 078 0324   Email: sales@quillsuk.co.uk   Live chat: www.quillsuk.co.uk

Should You Allow Dogs In The Office? The Pros and Cons

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There has been a wave of “pro-pet” research in recent years. Statistics about dogs in the office reducing stress and increasing productivity have been shared via every major news outlet . . . but is this just another fad? Should you allow your employees to bring dogs in the office, or will you just end up with a larger cleaning bill and chewed wires?

Today, we’re going to be exploring the pros and cons of implementing a pet-friendly policy in your workplace to help you decide.

Positive: Reduces stress

One of the largest benefits of allowing dogs in the office is that studies have shown that they reduce stress.

The most commonly cited study is Virginia Commonwealth University’s 2012, who found that employees who brought their dogs to work experienced lower stress levels throughout the work day, reported higher levels of job satisfaction, and had a more positive perception of their employer.

This was achieved by testing the saliva of the study participants throughout the day to monitor their Cortisol levels. (Cortisol is the hormone that measures stress.) At the beginning of the day, all employees had similar stress levels – but, as the day went on, the differences in how stressed they were became apparent.

Out of the group, the employees who brought their dogs to work had the lowest stress levels. Those who were the most stressed were dog owners who had left their pets at home.

Negative: Some people have dog allergies

However, there is going to be one group for whom having dogs present will distinctly increase their stress levels: people who are allergic to dogs. If you have a pet allergy, you won’t want to be surrounded by them for the majority of your day.

The common side effects of pet allergies are:

  • Sneezing
  • Runny or stuffy nose
  • Facial pain (from nasal congestion)
  • Coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and wheezing
  • Watery, red or itchy eyes
  • Skin rash or hives – Source

You can imagine an employee dealing with these at work is likely to be unhappy – and far less productive.

Positive: Increases productivity

That being said, while a dog allergy could hinder productivity, having dogs in the office is overall said to increase productivity. The same Virginia Commonwealth University study that discovered decreased stress levels also found that having dogs present increased productivity.

“Nearly half of those who brought their dogs in reported increased productivity, while the rest reported no remarkable difference in their daily work output. A majority (80%) of those who did not bring dogs in did not report reduced productivity in the office, and 25% said dogs positively affected productivity.” – Source

Negative: Some people just dislike animals

While not everyone may be allergic to dogs, a lot of people may just dislike them – or worse, be scared of them. For these employees, coming into a workplace full of animals may not be beneficial. In fact, it could lead to them feeling undervalued by the company and unhappy at work. Hardly a recipe for productivity.

Positive: Can increase collaboration and build relationships

Dogs can be somewhat like babies – when people see them, they stop and make a fuss. In an office situation, this is a great way to get to know people and break the ice. It encourages employees to interact and build relationships with each other.

Building friendships with people at work is actually a large factor in job satisfaction.

Having a friendly and well-connected workplace develops a better company culture and makes your office a better place to work. However, on top of this, collaboration is also where most innovation happens – so increasing collaboration in your office can mean your business flourishes.

Negative: Distracting

Having a dog may bring a bit too much joy to the office, though. Your employees spending significant amounts of time fussing over a dog may end up as just a lot of lost time.

Positive: Good for your animals as they aren’t left all alone

This benefit of dogs in the office isn’t necessarily a benefit for the business. From an employee perspective, having dogs in the office means that pets aren’t left at home alone during the day.

Dogs in particular are highly affectionate animals that often don’t like being apart from their owners. When working, owners usually have to choose between worrying, popping in  during the day or paying for expensive dog sitting services.

Allowing dogs in the offices stops your employees from needing to expend all that extra effort.

Negative: Unhygienic

As well as your employees may look after their dogs, they’re still animals – and hygiene isn’t on their list of priorities.

Positive: Easier to attract and retain employees

 A 2016 survey by Banfield pet hospital found that 82% of employees feel a greater sense of loyalty to pet-friendly companies, 88% think pets at work improve morale and 86% say they reduce stress. – Source

In the UK, 45% of people have a pet – and over half of those people have a dog. (26% of the population owns a dog.) This means that to a significant amount of the workforce allowing dogs in the office is an enticing benefit – and a good reason to stay.

Negative: Health and safety risks (biting)

One of the largest potential drawbacks of having dogs in the office is the health and safety threat. Even the best behaved dog can get overwhelmed and spooked, or feel threatened by a stranger . . . and as they’re animals, their go to response may be violent. Naturally, this is not something to take lightly – especially considering the potential legal ramifications.

While allowing dogs in the office has a wealth of benefits, there are also a considerable amount of potential negatives to take on board. Before your business decides to implement a pet policy, here are some of the top concerns it should address:

What Your Pet Policy Needs To Include:

1. That if anyone objects, it’s over

It’s essential that your employees feel valued and respected at work – so a good thing to include in your pet policy is an assurance that if anyone object to having pets in the office, pets will be removed.

2. Dog’s behaviour & psychological profile

If allowing dogs in the office, it’s important that you get information on their behaviour and temperament. Otherwise, you may end up with yappy, aggressive dogs running riot in your working space . . .

3. Dogs need training

While you want your employees to feel as comfortable and happy as possible at work, it is still a place for work. Having an untrained dog around is distracting and dangerous. Plus, it can make your office look like an unprofessional environment to clients.

4. Make sure they’re healthy and up to date on their shots

Asking for proof from vets to ensure that dogs are healthy and up to date on their shots is a good way to prevent any potential health problems.

5. Insurance policies; who is responsible for damages

While it hopefully won’t happen, having animals around significantly increases the chances of office damages. To ensure that if anything does happen your business is protected, make sure that both you and the pet owner have the relevant insurance. Plus, be very clear where liability lies.

6. Pet free areas

A possible addition to your pet policy is the enforcement of pet free areas.

7. Whether pets need to be kept on a leash

Some offices may be happy to let dogs roam around freely, but some may prefer them to kept on a lead the whole time. Specifying how dogs need to be kept when in the office is a good idea.

8. Dogs must get along with other dogs

If your office allows more than one dog in at a time, you need to ensure that the dogs have been socialised and can interact well with other dogs.

We hope you found this post informative. Introducing pets to the workplace can be highly beneficial – but make sure that your business is doing it properly.

Why Smart Businesses Are Focusing On Employee Happiness

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In recent years, there has been a distinct trend in workplaces leaning towards being more human-centric. Trends designed to encourage collaboration and interaction like the open office; workplaces with bean bags and sofas to promote happiness at work.

Businesses like Google and Facebook are renown for having lavish offices that could be mistaken as theme parks, often elaborately decorated and complete with fancy toys like slides.

The question is: what’s driving these trends? More importantly, is there any benefit to them or are they just clever marketing tactics?

In a world obsessed with social media, where each aspect of everyday life is an opportunity for Instagram and everything is under pressure to be picture perfect, it’s easy to dismiss these offices as pandering. Or worse, compensating. After all, having a photogenic office does not make your office a fun or successful place to work . . . But it can make your office look fun and successful, which, as per social media culture, can seem just as important. Plus, it’s a way for companies to get featured on “Top 10 Coolest Offices In The World” lists and go viral.

That being said, the rise of human-centric design is by no means a fad or parlour trick. These businesses may be savvy on the marketing aspect of their excessive designs – but, first and foremost, they’re meeting the needs of their most important target audience: their employees. 

Workers Don’t Want Slides And Ball Pits

Expedia is a prime example of a business getting it right; routinely listed on the aforementioned “cool office” lists, Expedia’s London office boasts table tennis, football, gaming consoles and a cocktail bar. Knowing this, it likely comes as no surprise that in 2016 and 2017 Expedia was Glassdoor’s highest rated place to work (based on employee satisfaction). What may be surprising…

86% of UK employees surveyed said fun office features are of no value to them. 25% find certain features annoying. – Source

If employees’ happiness isn’t being impacted by office additions such as ball pits and gaming areas, what makes Expedia such a good place to work? They focus on what employees actually want.

Expedia employees aren’t happy because of all the office’s fancy bells and whistles; the most common praise is in fact for “culture” and “career opportunities”. Instead of focusing their efforts solely on creating an Instagram worthy workplace full of amenities people are considered to want, they focused on the things that people have actually been proven to want.

What Do Workers Want?

Fortunately (from a business perspective, at least) what employees actually want is less planning-permission-required, up-in-the-clouds slides and more down to earth.

In 2016 , a Society for Human Resource Management study discovered some of the things employees value most are:

  • Pay
  • Prospects
  • Feeling respected
  • Trust

In terms of additional benefits, slides and gaming consoles still don’t rank very highly on employees priority list. The kind of perks people actually want, according to Harvard Business Review’s study, are:

W170131_JONES_BENEFITSVALUED

Source

Why Are Businesses Focusing On What Employees Want?

Thinking about the working culture of the past, it may be weird to think that businesses are now catering to their employees. After all, employees are paid to be at work – what else is necessary?

For smart businesses, a lot more. 

Happy, satisfied employees are all-round a far better investment for the company. They’re more efficient, more productive and they stay at the company for longer. On top of that, their quality of work is improved too!

Did you know that a report carried out by Oxford Economics found that it costs up to £30k to replace an employee?

Your business is built on your employees’ work – so you want to make sure that they’re working to their optimal capacity.

We hope this article provided you some insight into why smart companies focus on their employee happiness – and why your business should too.

For more business solutions, feel free to take a look at our extensive service list.

Your Business Needs Encrypted USBs: Stay GDPR compliant in and out of the office

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Imagine if a USB with all of Heathrow’s security plans was accidentally dropped on the street and picked up by a random passer-by. What kind of things do you think would be on it? CCTV camera locations, armed-police officer shift patterns, secret entrances . . . the security measures for the queen? All of those things and more. Such a massive breach could be disastrous.

What if we told you it happened last year?

A non-password protected USB containing Heathrow Airport’s security information was found last October containing over 174 confidential files. Maps, plans, videos; details about terrorist attacks and plans in place to stop future ones. Fortunately, the man who discovered the USB handed it into the authorities . . . but what if he hadn’t? What if the wrong person had found it?

Heathrow is the busiest airport in Britain – and the 7th busiest airport in the world. In 2017, there were over 78 million passengers that travelled through Heathrow.

Keeping your data safe, even if it isn’t a matter of national security like Heathrow Airport, is essential. Not only to ensure your clients and employees’ privacy is being upheld – but also to make sure your business remains GDPR compliant.

Businesses know they need to implement security in the office . . . but are companies overlooking the fact that many employees are field based or travel and work on the go.  As you can imagine, losing a USB flash drive full of your clients’ private information would highly violate the GDPR. So how do you keep compliant? Fortunately, there’s an easy way to make sure that your data is protected on the go.

Encrypted USBs

A simple way to protect your files when in transit is to use encrypted USBs. These are USBs that come with built-in encryption software and password protection and will even shut down your laptop if left inactive for a period of time.

Did you know that 66% of SMBs will go out of business or shut down for at least a day after a data breach? This is before the GDPR; with such large fines now in place, how many companies do you think will survive?

Unfortunately, data breaches and cyber attacks are a fact of life in the digital age – and SMBs are a prime target. In fact, 43% of cyber-attacks are aimed at SMBs. Your business needs to be taking as many precautions as possible.

The USB We Recommend: Safexs

Here at Quills, we provide an extensive range of encrypted USBs – but we highly recommend the Safexs range.

Safexs Protector 3.0 has been designed and developed within the EU specifically for government agencies to help reduce costs whilst still maintaining high security requirements. – Safexs website

Designed to be secure enough for government agencies to trust, Safexs USBs are well-equipped to protect your business’s data. Plus, they work with all operating systems, which means that if you’re switching between Macs and PCs, you can still access and protect your documents.

Developed in the EU to be compliant with current and future EU Data Protection Directives

Most importantly, Safexs USB drives were developed to be GDPR compliant. With such harsh penalties for non-compliance (fines of up to 4% of your annual turnover), your business does not want to take any unecessary risks.

Enquire About Safexs USBs

Benefits of encrypted flash drives

Encrypted USBs keep your data safe when working remotely or taking files off-site to show clients. However, they don’t stop there!

Note: these benefits are dependent on the model you buy; lower-spec encrypted flash drives may not offer them. If you’re interested in buying a secure USB and would like to better understand the features of each model, feel free to call us and ask a sales representative to ask for further information. Safexs Protector USBs have all of these functionalities.

  • Logging out of inactive machines

How often have you sat down to do some work – only to then get up to make yourself a quick cup of coffee? Or get called outside for a quick meeting? It’s not uncommon to get held up and be away from your computer for longer than you expect during the workday – but password protecting your files is no help if your PC is left open for people to access.

Encrypted flash drives have the ability to lock or turn off machines that have been inactive for a set amount of time; this means that if you get held up having a conversation at the coffee machine, your data is protected.

  • Protects against password guessing

After 10 wrong attempts at guessing the password, the password will reset.

  • Password rescue service

While you want your files to be secure . . . you still want to be able to access them if you forget your password. Fortunately, with Safexs there is safe password recovery that won’t destroy your files.

  • Secure file sharing 

Safexs USBS offer ShareProtect; a portable secure file sharing solution. This allows you to encrypt your device and computer files and share them with colleagues or business partners.

  • Auto-destruct

You can set your flash drive to automatically wipe its content at a set date. You no longer need to worry about having data sitting around for longer than it needs to be.

To conclude, we highly recommend investing in encrypted USBs for your business and employees working remotely or on the go.

If you’d like to purchase some encrypted USBs, feel free to call us at 0845 078 0324 or send an email enquiry to sales@quillsuk.co.uk.

Enquire About Encrypted USBs

How To Attract Generation Z To Your Office

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Move over, millennials, Generation Z is making its way into the workforce.

Born between 1995-2010, Generation Z (also frequently referred to as Digital Natives) are the next big buzzword. Set to fill 20% of the workforce by 2020, this generation is the largest yet – here’s what your business needs to know about them.

Key Characteristics Of Generation Z:

“Gen Z understands that there’s a need for constant skill development in order to stay relevant. Their parents likely taught them the importance of working hard, and that no one will hand them their success. This generation is willing to work hard, but they expect to be rewarded for it.” – Source

1. Hardworking – but motivated by financial security.

Due to growing up in times of financial instability (the greatest economic instability since the Great Depression) and likely watching their parents struggle with money, Gen Z are eager to be financially stable. They value hard work and stability.

2. Digital Natives

Growing up with technology, Gen Z earned the moniker “Digital Natives”. They are the first generation to be intrinsically connected to the digital world; as a result, they’re great at adapting constantly to new technology and software.

3. Self-taught

Combining the first two points, this is the generation of continuous learning. Used to an ever-changing job market, skills becoming redundant and technology completely overhauling, Gen Z realises the importance of keeping their skill-set updated.

However, due to their constant connection, Gen Z are also used to teaching themselves. They’ve grown up sorting through the large amounts of information available at their fingertips – and utilising it. Independent learners, they tend to pick things up quickly and are more than happy to problem-solve without micro-management.

4. Multi-taskers

While Generation Z can have lower attention spans than their Millennial counterparts, they make up for it in their unprecedented ability to multi-task. Growing up looking between phones, iPods, laptops, computers, television screens, workbooks and homework, the digital natives are used to seamlessly switching between medias effectively.

5. Early starters

Driven by witnessing the past generation struggle to find jobs out of university – and driven to start gaining financial stability as soon as possible – Gen Z are getting onto the career ladder earlier.

“I was told that there’s winners and losers, and if I’m not willing to work my butt off there are 70 million other people that are going to come right up behind you and take your job,” Jonah Stillman says. “We are a very competitive and driven generation.” – Source

How Your Business Can Attract and Retain Gen Z:

This generation is competitive, ambitious – and looking to settle in and start moving up quickly. If your business doesn’t meet their needs, hiring Generation Z will be difficult – and retaining them impossible.

83% of Gen Z believes that three years or less is the appropriate amount of time to spend at their first job – with some believing it to be as little as a year.

1. Progression

The first thing your business needs to offer is the possibility of progression. This generation are pragmatic, with one eye to the future; therefore, every job is an opportunity and a step towards their future.

What progression does your business offer? Can they grow within the company or develop a strong skillset that will help them develop outside the company?

In terms of a long-term career, how does your business help them?

2. Flexible working

Furthermore, this is the generation to follow on from the “work life balance” pioneers – and they’re always connected. To Generation Z, working remotely is just as, if not more, efficient as being in the office.

Does your business offer flexible working options?

3. Constant learning

The world is ever-changing – and there’s always more to learn. Jobs we’re doing today could be obsolete this time next year; jobs everyone’s competing for in ten years might not exist yet!

Because of this, Gen Z want to constantly be learning new skills, to prepare them for whatever the future holds.

Does your business offer opportunities for learning and development of new skills?

4. A modern workplace

Finally, these are the Digital Natives – technology is almost an integral part of their DNA. Slow computers, outdated operating systems, lack of technology . . . these are all going to be largely off-putting.

Are your business’s offices up to date?

Hopefully, this helped to shed some light on the latest generation arriving to the workplace! If you’d like some tips for managing multiple generations at work, feel free to read our post here.

 

Hot Desking: A Trend Your Office May Want To Avoid

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The modern office landscape is ever-changing. With focus on flexibility and collaboration in the workplace, we have seen the rise of open office plans and remote working. We’ve seen the cubicle become all-but extinct. One of the newest trends to develop? Hot desking. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at hot-desking . . . and why we don’t really recommend it.

What is it?

Hot-desking is a practice wherein an office has non-allocated desks; workspaces are first-come, first serve and employees have no set places to work. As employees aren’t given a desk, employers usually don’t buy one per person to account for the fact some employees may be working remotely, which cuts costs on both space and equipment.

Why is hot-desking popular?

The ideas behind hot-desking are similar to the ones that spawned the open office. Collaboration, innovation and cutting office running costs.

The party line goes: if employees aren’t confined to working in the same place, surrounded by the same people, they’ll meet and collaborate with new faces. Hopefully leading to crossovers of skills, better employee relationships and a boost in creativity.

When is it useful?

Hot-desking is most useful when your workforce is flexible and work from home at least part time. This is because your entire office is unlikely to be in at the same time, which means there’s usually a desk or two that’s not being used. Instead of these desks sitting there empty, hot desking means you won’t buy them – and that, in theory, you’ll never have wasted space.

Why we don’t recommend hot-desking

While hot-desking may have its apparent benefits, overall we don’t recommend it. Let’s take a look at why.

Why We Don't Recommend Hot Desking

Employees have no personal space

When you work in an office that hot-desks, you have no personal desk. No place to put knick-knacks or photos of your kids; no place to head straight for in the morning. Especially if you’re bringing in your own equipment, lugging your possessions around the office to find a free desk is another annoyance.

“Once you have found a free desk, you have to unpack all your work things and set yourself up before you can begin productive work (and then repack it all when you leave) – spending more time every day on low-level subsistence activity.” – Source

This can be very unsettling for employees – as well as leaving them feeling under-appreciated and undervalued.

It gets cluttered easily

Because no one workplace belongs to anyone . . . who’s going to tidy it up? If you’re working somewhere before lunch, but during your break someone eats and leaves a mess at the desk, are you going to tidy up their mess? A lot of people would say no – it’s not their desk and it’s not their mess.

What happens if all of your office staff are in?

Most remote workers only work from home a few days out of the week, so what happens when your entire workforce is in the office and there aren’t enough desks?

Image result for hot desking comic

Source

What happens when your team can’t all sit together?

Even if there is enough room for your team individually, it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll all manage to find desks together. This means that entire teams or departments could end up separated – making collaborative work difficult.

Can foster resentment

When an office starts hot-desking, usually the higher ups still have allocated desks. While this makes sense, it can still breed resentment between employees and heighten the feelings of under-appreciation.

Negative impact on staff

However, the biggest reason we don’t recommend hot-desking is because employees don’t like it. Your workforce is highly unlikely to benefit from implementing hot-desking – studies have actually shown hot-desking has negative impact on staff.

A survey carried out by Unison in 2012 showed that:

  • 90% of respondents said it had a negative effect on morale;
  • 90% said it increased their stress levels;
  • 80% said they do not have the same access to peer support; and
  • only 15% felt that flexibility and efficiency had increased

Source

Isolating

As with many “office solutions” aimed at promoting collaboration, the opposite seems to be true. While the idea of meeting and working next to different people every day sounds like a great opportunity to get to know your coworkers and build relationships . . . the reality is much different.

Firstly, it’s difficult to build a relationship with your coworkers when you never sit next to the same one two days in a row. However, it’s can also be difficult to get to know your coworkers at all in a hot desking situation.

Imagine coming into the office everyday, sitting next to someone new and having to interrupt their work to start a conversation. Most people would feel rude disrupting others’ workflow – and people that need to focus may become resentful of people constantly talking to them.

Ultimately, hot desking is a solution that may be beneficial to the business, but is likely not not beneficial to the business’s employees. This is one trend we’re recommend you steer clear from.

William West Ltd Aquisition 1st May 2018

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Quills Group Acquires William West Ltd – 1st May 2018

We are pleased to announce the acquisition of William West Ltd on 1st May 2018.  The acquisition is for the Office Supplies and Office Interiors divisions of William West (excluding the Print business).

Andy Efstathiou, Managing Director of Quills said “For William West customers the acquisition will mean the same high level of service with the additional benefit of our internal infrastructure, additional customer services and features like Live Chat to provide answers quickly to any queries or questions.”

The existing William West team will be moving across to Quills (Management, Account Management and Sales) which will ensure a smooth and seamless transfer.

We look forward to working with William West employees and customers and extending a warm welcome to all.

 

Should You Let Your Employees Work From Home? The Negatives Of Remote Working

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Welcome to Part 2 of our series “Should You Let Your Employees Work From Home?”. Today, we’re going to explore the negatives of remote working. If you haven’t read the first instalment, The Benefits Of Remote Working, make sure you give that a read too.

Quick summary of the WORST negatives of remote working:

  • Lack of company community and culture – Employees can’t build meaningful connections with you or each other when they work remotely. Teamwork and collaboration can therefore take a big hit.
  • Completely dependant on technology – Everyone has been subject to shoddy internet or random computer issues. What happens when you can’t call on your IT department to get that fixed? When an internet problem means your workforce may lose an entire day of productivity?
  • Unable to monitor employees throughout the day – When in the office, managers can oversee their employees and see who’s slacking off, but it becomes far harder to monitor people working remotely. How is productivity managed? How do you know that people are even working?
  • Communication barriers – While there is technology that can make communicating with people easier, remote working still poses a lot of communication barriers. People may be using different platforms at different times; there can be connection issues; information that would normally get shared organically in the office may not be shared, leaving teams at a disadvantage.
  • Employees get lonely. 

The Negatives Of Remote Working

While allowing your employees to work from home has a host of benefits, such as higher employee satisfaction and better employee productivity, there are some definite drawbacks. As with most things, allowing your employees to work remotely is a trade off – you’ll gain . . . but is it worth what you lose?

Collaboration becomes far more difficult

In 2013, Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Meyer, famously shut down their telecommuting policies. Her reasoning?

“People are more productive when they’re at home – but more collaborative and innovative when they’re together.“

There are a  host of reasons that communication and collaboration becomes more difficult when working remotely, but the main one comes down to: people can’t see each other. In an office environment, people build real relationships – they have conversations, they feel comfortable sharing ideas, they know each other. Collaboration is natural.

If you’re working in a remote team with people you don’t know, you’re far less likely to think “we should definitely work on that together!” or ask them for feedback.

Employees can get forgotten

When your workforce is based from home, instead of in front of you, it can be easy to overlook them. This can lead to employees feeling passed over and dissatisfied – as well as you missing out on potential.

Dependence on technology

Working remotely means depending on technology. There’s no way around it.

However, this can be a drawback. Even in an office, technology is fails. Internet connections mysteriously drop, computers glitch, servers crash. The difference is that in an office you’re surrounded by people that can help – you might even have an IT department.

Not only that, in an office you’re surrounded by coworkers and superiors. There’s usually something else that you can find to do – whether that’s admin work, a quick meeting, or just having a chance to bounce some ideas off someone. In comparison, if tech goes down when you’re at home . . . you’re a sitting duck.

Even if you aren’t the one with the technology problem, someone else being disrupted is just as harmful. What if you have an important meeting and someone’s internet won’t work? If you’re waiting on a project update from someone who’s computer keeps crashing?

Disconnected from the company culture; in turn, a lack of employee loyalty

What are things that make your employees like their jobs – your business vision? Friday 5pm happy hours? The free coffee bar? Having friends at work? Getting along well with their boss? Being able to come in, greet the office dog and have a quick chat in the morning?

People like to feel connected to their workplaces and to enjoy their company culture – notably, it’s a large part of their job satisfaction. One of the negatives of remote working is that, if your employees are at home too often, they aren’t a part of the company culture; they don’t spend any time interacting with the company outside of a screen.

Feeling disconnected can not only leave employees feeling alienated . . . it doesn’t do anything to build their loyalty to you.

Lack of communication can leave people out of the loop

You may be surprised how much information travels through your office organically.

Take a moment to think about it. How much do you learn just by having a little end-of-the-day chat? From people walking past your desk? Casually tossed ideas at the end of a meeting? Bumping into someone who happened to be somewhere and hear something they think you might like to know?

If you aren’t in the office, how does this information travel? While there are a lot of apps and programs designed for helping remote teams, nothing quite substitutes having everyone in the same room.

Results completely depend on your employees

One of the largest negatives of remote working, however, is that it’s all down to your employees. Working from home comes with a host of potential problems – distractions, lack of motivation, slacking off – that you can’t fix.

In the office, a manager can manage. You can oversee and instruct; monitor and guide. It’s up to you to put procedures in place and ensure that people follow them.

When people work from home, you have much less control. It’s up to your employees to self-manage, organise, and motivate themselves – and you may not know how well they can do this until they succeed or fail. For example: the most dedicated employee in the office may be so successful because the office environment forces them to focus; in their own environment, they may be incredibly easy to distract and unproductive.

Disrupt flow of in-office employees

Another notable drawback of allowing employees to work from home is possible disruption to the overall office workflow. If a team is working together on a project and each day someone different is missing from the office, there’s potential for a lot of miscommunication.

These are just a few of the drawbacks to allowing your employees to work from home. While there are some definite negatives and remote workers may not be the best fit for every business, we recommend you read about the benefits of remote working too.