Buy your own stationary for work?
Discussion
I have a friend who works for a local government organisation.
Apparently management has suggested to cut costs, staff could supply their own stationary for work.
I suggested that the response should involve suggesting new management would save costs.
Does anybody have to supply their own stuff for work?
I mean we might choose to buy ourselves a nice pen to use. But if I needed a pen to do my job the company would supply one.
Apparently management has suggested to cut costs, staff could supply their own stationary for work.
I suggested that the response should involve suggesting new management would save costs.
Does anybody have to supply their own stuff for work?
I mean we might choose to buy ourselves a nice pen to use. But if I needed a pen to do my job the company would supply one.
Munter said:
I mean we might choose to buy ourselves a nice pen to use. But if I needed a pen to do my job the company would supply one.
Pretty much my thinking.It's a joke if management are considering that. I suppose they could argue that they'll save costs by reducing staff numbers or freezing salary.
Wonder if any unscrupulous eateries make staff pay for their uniforms.
ShadownINja said:
Munter said:
I mean we might choose to buy ourselves a nice pen to use. But if I needed a pen to do my job the company would supply one.
Pretty much my thinking.It's a joke if management are considering that. I suppose they could argue that they'll save costs by reducing staff numbers or freezing salary.
Wonder if any unscrupulous eateries make staff pay for their uniforms.
Chris_w666 said:
ShadownINja said:
Munter said:
I mean we might choose to buy ourselves a nice pen to use. But if I needed a pen to do my job the company would supply one.
Pretty much my thinking.It's a joke if management are considering that. I suppose they could argue that they'll save costs by reducing staff numbers or freezing salary.
Wonder if any unscrupulous eateries make staff pay for their uniforms.
I'ld say thats fair with waitressing, like any job you've got to supply your own clothes just as long as they supply the PPE or apron ;-)
As for the stationary thats a joke, as with that I'ld suggest they'd instal lockable cubbards for everyone so they know who's is who's.
Undoubtedly I can see the managers of this not supplying any for themselves, walking round pinching the fellow colleagues equipment especially if its a nice parker pen.
As for the stationary thats a joke, as with that I'ld suggest they'd instal lockable cubbards for everyone so they know who's is who's.
Undoubtedly I can see the managers of this not supplying any for themselves, walking round pinching the fellow colleagues equipment especially if its a nice parker pen.
I don't need to buy my own stationary for work - I can stand still all by myself! Stationery is free though.
At work, all the tools I need for on ship are provided (paper, pens, CDs too) - if I want to buy my own tools I can, though it would be fairly pointless. The same principle should be employed in an office - basic but fit-for-purpose items should be supplied (e.g. Bic crystal biros) to allow someone to do their job. An employer really isn't going to save a huge amount of money by cutting stationery from the budget.
You say your mate works for local government - I'm sure there are plenty of more expensive things that they waste their money on that could be cut!
At work, all the tools I need for on ship are provided (paper, pens, CDs too) - if I want to buy my own tools I can, though it would be fairly pointless. The same principle should be employed in an office - basic but fit-for-purpose items should be supplied (e.g. Bic crystal biros) to allow someone to do their job. An employer really isn't going to save a huge amount of money by cutting stationery from the budget.
You say your mate works for local government - I'm sure there are plenty of more expensive things that they waste their money on that could be cut!
CHIEF said:
We all have coin operated heaters in our offices at work.
Legally, can they do that? minimum temperature, H&S @ work and all that?I'd bring a duvet in, snuggle up and say f* 'em and their pay-per-heat
Or a sneaky teeny little heater. Or a few 250w light bulbs. What about a table lamp with a radiant bulb? always a way;)
Edited by hairyben on Thursday 12th November 22:36
Taffer said:
An employer really isn't going to save a huge amount of money by cutting stationery from the budget.
You'd be surprised!At one of my former employers, the office manager announced that she was putting a lock on the stationery cupboard. People could still get all their stationery for free, but they did have to ask her or her deputy to get it for them.
Absurdly petty bureaucracy, you might think. We certainly thought that. Until she announced that in the first year, it had reduced the stationery costs by £2k in an office of 35 people!!
Given that this worked out to nearly 60 quid per employee, you'd have to assume that someone had been pocketing a significant amount of stuff, but even so, a lot of that saving came from people just asking for what they needed, rather than grabbing handfuls of stuff they didn't. We were fully bought in to the scheme once they'd put the £2k behind the bar at the Christmas party!
OK, so £2k isn't much, but multiply that up from 35 people to a larger organisation, and it's significant. HMRC uses over a million sheets of A4 paper a day, for example.
My ex-boss had a rule that anybody requiring stationery had to formally request it from either me or him. Then we could decide whether to go and get the new pen/pencil/paper from the cupboard ourselves, or to trust the staff member enough to go and get their own.
This was vaguely amusing in a "how can anyone be so petty?" way, until the day I put in an order for some new stationery because we were running low. He was amazed that we'd got through so much (well, we'd been busy...), so went into the cupboard himself to check stock levels.
When he got there, he was horrified to find that we were a lot lower on company headed paper than he thought we should have been. He actually came out into the office and accused us all of swiping it. I just laughed and told him the staff were stealing it because they had this uncontrollable urge to do invoicing in the middle of the night.
Oddly enough, nothing more was ever said about the "missing" headed paper.
Mind you, this was also a bloke who always assumed that if you had to have time off for a dental appointment or because you were ill, you "must" have been off to interview for other jobs. Says it all really.
This was vaguely amusing in a "how can anyone be so petty?" way, until the day I put in an order for some new stationery because we were running low. He was amazed that we'd got through so much (well, we'd been busy...), so went into the cupboard himself to check stock levels.
When he got there, he was horrified to find that we were a lot lower on company headed paper than he thought we should have been. He actually came out into the office and accused us all of swiping it. I just laughed and told him the staff were stealing it because they had this uncontrollable urge to do invoicing in the middle of the night.
Oddly enough, nothing more was ever said about the "missing" headed paper.
Mind you, this was also a bloke who always assumed that if you had to have time off for a dental appointment or because you were ill, you "must" have been off to interview for other jobs. Says it all really.
Kermit power said:
Taffer said:
An employer really isn't going to save a huge amount of money by cutting stationery from the budget.
You'd be surprised!At one of my former employers, the office manager announced that she was putting a lock on the stationery cupboard. People could still get all their stationery for free, but they did have to ask her or her deputy to get it for them.
Taffer said:
Eric Mc said:
Chaps, the word is STATIONERY
I did point this out a few posts back, but I don't think many people care that one letter totally changes the meaning of a word and, as such, is well worth learning.Beat them with sticks - it's the only way they'll learn!
Chris_w666 said:
ShadownINja said:
Munter said:
I mean we might choose to buy ourselves a nice pen to use. But if I needed a pen to do my job the company would supply one.
Pretty much my thinking.It's a joke if management are considering that. I suppose they could argue that they'll save costs by reducing staff numbers or freezing salary.
Wonder if any unscrupulous eateries make staff pay for their uniforms.
You have to remember local/central governments are spending our money and as such are accountable. It is pleasing to know at least some money is not wasted.
I worked with HMRC many years ago, & they supplied the bare minimum.
It was the largest office I have worked in, and had the smallest stationery cupboard I have seen.
Requsitions had to be made for everything, and not everything was available.
Post it notes were not issued (have a look round your office and see how many are wasted)
Issues of Highlighter pens were rare
Employees made notepads from scrap paper from the bottom of reports & treasury tags.
Staplers were not generally used as staples could not be re-used. Instead tresury tags, paperclips and dressmaking pins were the norm.
The pins were used to secure the contents of incoming envelopes to each other eg cheques to letters, as it was found paperclips tended to attach items below them in a pile (This was the reason for many tax returns being incorrectly filed as late in early 1997 as they were piled up prior to scanning after opening envelopes)
Junk faxes & transmission reports were also returned to the paper cassette to enable the other side to be used.
Looking back I am slightly impressed by this attitude, however also remember the day the savings were all un-done when everyone had to get their chairs swapped to meet latest guidlines (lumbar support or something similar) all the previous operators chairs were pretty much just given to staff who wanted them.
Oh and I do use my own pen and highlighters, the former is silver so people don't tend to take it from my desk in error and the latter has my inital scratched into it to make retrieval from others desks easier.
I worked with HMRC many years ago, & they supplied the bare minimum.
It was the largest office I have worked in, and had the smallest stationery cupboard I have seen.
Requsitions had to be made for everything, and not everything was available.
Post it notes were not issued (have a look round your office and see how many are wasted)
Issues of Highlighter pens were rare
Employees made notepads from scrap paper from the bottom of reports & treasury tags.
Staplers were not generally used as staples could not be re-used. Instead tresury tags, paperclips and dressmaking pins were the norm.
The pins were used to secure the contents of incoming envelopes to each other eg cheques to letters, as it was found paperclips tended to attach items below them in a pile (This was the reason for many tax returns being incorrectly filed as late in early 1997 as they were piled up prior to scanning after opening envelopes)
Junk faxes & transmission reports were also returned to the paper cassette to enable the other side to be used.
Looking back I am slightly impressed by this attitude, however also remember the day the savings were all un-done when everyone had to get their chairs swapped to meet latest guidlines (lumbar support or something similar) all the previous operators chairs were pretty much just given to staff who wanted them.
Oh and I do use my own pen and highlighters, the former is silver so people don't tend to take it from my desk in error and the latter has my inital scratched into it to make retrieval from others desks easier.
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