Workplace Blog

When a Mirror isn't Just a Mirror

Posted on September 24, 2013

As well as using mirrors for practical and safety reasons, for example in shops as security to help deter shop lifters and on roads to help drivers check their blind spots, there are a variety of fun things you can do with just a humble mirror. 1. You can summon up evil spirits. There is a well-known children’s "game" of summoning the evil spirit of a woman called Mary by staring into the bathroom mirror and chanting “Bloody Mary” three times over. The folklore behind this game is supposed to come from Mary I, Queen of England who was given the nickname of Bloody Mary due to her persecution of Protestants during her reign. Ok, so, it isn’t as if we believe in ghost stories, but maybe think twice before summoning any evil entities. ...

Warehouse Organization Tips

Posted on September 19, 2013

Regardless of what type of business you operate, chances are you already have a warehouse or storage area where products are being housed, organized and prepared for their trip to buyers and clients. If you want to make the process more streamlined and effective, you should focus on every aspect of it for maximum efficiency and control. This means you must go through a number of possible solutions that boost your productivity toward that goal. The following tips are aimed toward giving you that edge: Upkeep You should check on your warehouse on a regular basis so you can review its operations. If you have kept it well-organized in the beginning, this may not always be the case with the changing standards that flow into new requirements. It would be a good idea to work with a checklist for your manager so you'll know what's happening. Prioritizing by Sellers You should place the higher volume items closer to your shipping area so they can be moved with...

How Would You Spend a £10 Million Marketing Budget?

Posted on September 18, 2013

For most companies £1 million would be a dream marketing budget, so what would you do with £10 million at your disposal? Would you plump for all-out media saturation and leave no promotional stone unturned or would you blow it all on hiring Peter Jackson to direct one outrageously elaborate advert? The mind boggles. Here are just some of our ideas! Hire the Big Kahunas It’s amazing what a famous face can do for sales and with a budget of £10 million, you could afford to hire an entire ensemble. Back in 2006, Marks and Spencer’s went for a whole host of famous faces including the incredible vocal talents of Dame Shirley Bassey for their Christmas campaign. Lavish and sexy, the advert could have leaped right out of a James Bond film and cost as much (in the region of £2 million). Whether you go for an entire cast or one legendary figure, you better hope you hire appropriately. (Who ever thought beer and a prune-like Jean Claude Van Damme was a good match?...) Pl...

Very Good Service at The Workplace Depot

Posted on September 17, 2013

The Workplace Depot is delighted to be featured on the Very Good Service website. The website specialises in recognising and reviewing companies that have won awards for their services and products in a variety of different categories from shopping to finance, helping people to locate the very best companies in the UK for what they are looking for. The Workplace Depot is featured as the winner of the 2013 Online Retail Award. By acknowledging this accolade and placing us amongst a variety of other companies and businesses on the website that also offer great services. Other brands included as a part of this website are John Lewis, Pets at Home and amazon.co.uk. The Workplace Depot is highlighted on their “small biz services” page as providing very good service as a small business. On this page The Workplace Depot is listed alongside other brands such as Sage and Vodafone Small Business. We hope this will increase our already high level of trust and credibility amo...

How to Keep Your Bike Safe

Posted on September 16, 2013

The population is becoming more environmentally friendly, and as a consequence, more and more people are now pedalling their way to work, school or about town. Many of our team members here at The Workplace Depot chose to cycle to work and the introduction of the endearingly dubbed “Boris Bikes” in London has brought to light how easy and practical cycling in the capital can be, and now 1/4 of all London traffic is made up of cyclists. Motorised traffic is the single largest source of air pollution in city areas and the amount of pollution caused by traffic and transport is increasing every year. Motor vehicles emit a variety of pollutants such as Hydrocarbons, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxides , Ozone, Particulates , acidic compounds, and Carbon Dioxide, all of which are harmful to the environment. In order to combat this, or to at least limit the amount of greenhouse gases we produce, cycling from place to place instead of using a car is much less harmful to our atmosphere. The...

The Workplace Depot Wins Prestigious Online Retail Award

Posted on September 09, 2013

The Workplace Depot is delighted to have won the 2013 Online Retail Award in the 'Office and Workplace Supplies' category. The Online Retail Awards celebrates those websites that offer the very best online shopping experience and deliver excellent customer satisfaction. Richard Bloomfield, Website Editor for The Workplace Depot, who attended the awards ceremony commented, “This is an amazing achievement for a website which is less than 18 months old, especially when you consider the awards are open to online retailers of any size and anywhere in the world. This goes to show that if you put a lot of initial research into making it as easy as possible for customers to browse and buy, it can deliver a high standard e-commerce website.” As well as providing an outstanding online shopping experience for customers, The Workplace Depot has also developed an exceptionally informative blog covering industry topics like health & safety, rec...

Workshop Hazards and How to Avoid Them

Posted on September 06, 2013

Workshops are a dangerous place to work due to many health and safety hazards. These hazards can be avoided by putting aside some time to check over the area that employees are working in and provide some storage for tools, equipment and parts. Lets be honest, if a workshop was always tidy and shiny, customers would be a bit worried, but employees should be putting away tools and equipment as they go or once they have finished a job. In addition, nuts, bolts and other bits and bobs to build parts with need to be stored somewhere accessible and simple for employees to quickly grab and get back to the job. Screws, nails, staples, nuts and bolts are small items that need to be stored in small containers that are easy to get to without opening and closing lids. Open fronted stacker bins are ideal for workshops. They are grease and oil resistant and manufactured from wall fluted polypropylene. The light weight, open fronted stacking bins are easy to clean and resistant to most...

10 Pranks to Pull on Your Colleagues

Posted on September 05, 2013

If you fancy a laugh and giggle (which may be alien to some employees), here are some pranks to pull on your work colleagues. Of course, not everyone has time to pull off the ultimate prank but if you want a simple and quick prank to pull on someone, you've come to the right place. Keyboard key change This is an old one, but still very funny. For those keen typers that love to keep on typing, this is a great one. Switch around the ones you think would work best and let the victim do the work! Eternal hold If you feel like being annoying then putting a co worker on hold is the prank for you. This prank will work better in a big workplace where your victim cannot see you. Simply call a colleague and talk to them about something important. Then tell them to hold for a minute...

10 Most Unusual Jobs That Do Exist

Posted on August 30, 2013

Have you ever thought if those strange jobs actually do exist? Such as a Lego sculptor or a pet detective – or have you considered a career change to something a bit more exciting than working in an office? Here are 10 jobs you could apply for – and yes they do exist! Pet Food Tester Senior Food Technologist may sound an ideal job, especially if you love your food. However, before you click apply, you could be applying for a job as a pet food taster. Most brands we see sat on the shelves, are tested before they go on sale and apparently pets are unreliable because many just eat anything, or they are picky, so this is where humans come in. Professional Granny There is a website called grannyandi.co.uk that employees grannies as babysitters, helpers for new mums, housekeepers and maternity nurses. They have decades of experience behind them from looking after the...

Are You a Motivating Employer?

Posted on August 20, 2013

The best method of motivation to ensure a person achieves their potential and works hard is, quite simply, reward! While threatening words and punishment might see that the job is completed, words of encouragement and the promise of a well-deserved treat at the finish line will result in a job that has been fulfilled through use of passionate dedication and therefore has been done well. So what kind of employer are you? The type to keep you after hours and make you work through your lunch break to simply get the job done? Or the type to reward you with a Christmas hamper full of treats at the end of a year of hard work? Here are just a few reasons why the possibility of a reward can inspire some of the greatest work... Moral boost Nobody likes putting in the overtime to receive nothing in return, and overworked, exhausted employees can cause the atmosphere...

Dangerous Substances - Fire and Explosion

Posted on August 20, 2013

Explosive atmospheres can be caused by flammable gases, mists, vapours or combustible dusts. If there is enough of a substance that is mixed with the air, then all it needs is a source of ignition to cause an explosion. Each year, hundreds of people are injured at work by flammable substances accidentally catching fire or exploding. Companies and businesses who are involved with using or creating chemicals, vapours, liquids, gases, solids or dusts that can readily burn or explode is hazardous. The effects of an explosion or a fire in the workplace can have devastating affects upon the employees and employer including, lost of lives, injuries, damage to the property and environment. If the workplace deals with the use or creation of these dangerous substances correctly, most fires and explosions are preventable. Employers and management have the responsibility for workplaces or other non-domestic premises to which any member of the public has access to, to be safe...

How to Create A Better Office Environment

Posted on August 19, 2013

Creating a better office environment doesn’t necessarily mean that you should have an in-house gym or a designer interior. Ordering lunch or snacks for your employees and taking them on fun-trips is fine, as long as you are doing the basics right. How a person perceives the environment depends to a large extent upon his or her mental state. On the other hand, it is also a fact that improvements in surroundings do help people's productivity. As a manager, it is your job to nurture and build an office environment where everybody feels motivated and happy to work. Even the slightest disturbances at workplace can make people hold back their best efforts, which will affect the organisational performance. While your ultimate goal is to enhance and maintain productivity, there's no direct route to that destination. You have to take a number of small steps and take everybody along. In order to be successful with creating a better office environment, you need to work on two fronts s...