A major aspect of running an efficient office is keeping track of stationery, and ensuring everyone working there has access to the things they require for their job. Even though it may be a challenging process to decide the tools you use in the office, and different tools work differently in various office settings, a major resource that benefits offices greatly is office stationery – regardless of the office type you are dealing with. And having a one-stop shop to buy each type of stationery required for your office can be so comforting and quick. And one such is site is officemonster.co.uk.
However, this makes the office supplies very easy to abuse, both by employees and procurement teams. There are numerous cases where office stationery is stolen, regardless of your efforts to get the best offers from stationery companies like getting Crown’s Net 30 application, or suddenly notice that your supplies are running out when you were unaware that this was the case. In other cases, buying the stationery involves shady deals that you do not want, such as major procurement scandals. This raises an important question – how do you prevent abuse? Here are some tips to help you with this tough goal.
Managing of office supplies
It is very easy to access and use office supplies, and they are even easier to get rid of. It is always important to have access to toners, inks, paper, paper clips, tape, staples, pens, and so on, but they quickly become a major hassle for your expense budget if you fail to monitor their use. In addition to this, it is very easy for your office employees to take too many supplies at the same time, which quickly results in overspending and over-ordering as you try to replenish the supplies.
This problem can increase when you adopt workplace flexibility – which leads us to some possible solutions you can adopt below.
Limit the access to supplies
The first step to manage your stationery flows is improving the present organization system you already use. To do this, there are important questions to ask – especially how you currently keep track of the supplies coming in. there are some systems that promote the poor tracking of stationery, such as having an open supply room – which is theoretically great, but practically poor, because it does not limit the supplies that are used on a daily basis.
You can use three methods to reduce access to office supplies:
- Appointing someone to be in charge of the supply room and act as a gatekeeper. This is the most effective method, though it may be inefficient if the office lacks someone who can control the movement of supplies.
- Reducing access to a select group of employees, through installing a lock or keypad that they can use while preventing other employees from accessing this space.
- Creating a log that is specifically for stationery flows, and keeping it in an open supply room. When employees take any stationery, they must note it in this log, the quantities they take, and the dates when they take them. This method has a disadvantage though, because it relies on employee honesty.
Organize the stationery that is already there
When you decide on the method to limit access, you can then organize the supply room. Group similar items in the same area to make access quicker, and make the most used items more accessible while moving less-used items on higher shelves or less accessible areas.
Always maintain the neatness of the supply room, regardless of the arrangement you use to arrange your Crown supplies. If your employees are returning items, ensure you encourage them to maintain the arrangement in use, which ultimately makes it easier to take inventory.
Exhaust supplies before buying more
To prevent over-ordering, encourage the employees to use what is there before getting new supplies. This will ultimately save your expenses because you are not throwing out unused supplies, while reducing wastage in the long term and encourage sustainable resource use.
Create a strategy for re-ordering supplies
The good news about getting office supplies is the discounts that you can get from supply companies – an example being the Crown Office Supply Company offering great discounts for both new and established enterprises. Taking advantage of these offers will help you to take advantage of great supplies, and reduce the expenses – the aim is getting a sustainable discount while preventing over-ordering.
Final thoughts
We hope that these tips will help you make the most of your office supplies, keep track of them, and reduce expenses while increasing productivity.
