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Top 10 Funny, Weird and Wacky National Days

Posted on March 12, 2014

Today is National No Smoking Day - perhaps one of the best known and most worthwhile in the 'National Days' calendar. March also has many other well known 'days including Saint David's Day (1st), Pancake Day (4th), Ash Wednesday (5th), International Women's Day (8th), Saint Patrick's Day (17th), Spring Equinox day (21st) and in some years March also hosts Good Friday and Easter. There has been an explosion in recent years of not so important 'national' days - thanks to the abundance of funny, weird and downright wacky national days that the calendar might not show you, we'd thought we'd bring you a list of our top 10: 1. Festival of Sleep Day It's 3rd January and you're just back from the holidays. Weren't they exhausting! How about catching up on some sleep? Though the origins of this day could not be traced, it must have been started by some lazy desk-dozers. Sleeping at work isn't recommended (or tolerated), so take a day off and celebrate the Festival of...

Traffic Cones and Statues: A Tale of Unrequited Love

Posted on November 13, 2013

Browsing through the news today, we came across an article written by the BBC titled “Why do people put traffic cones on statues?” Well, firstly it is a valid question. What is the fascination with defacing statues with cones? Providing the addition of a traffic cone accessory to any statues in city centres or towns has become quite commonplace. It is normally the act of drunken pranksters, on the way home after a night on the tiles who fancy a laugh and a joke at the expense of these historic figures. A combination of party-culture and the abundance of road works in a number of towns and cities up and down the country is what makes putting a traffic cone on a statue appear easy and fun to do. It has been said that this phenomenon is actually a part of tradition and history. For years people have felt the need to vandalise statues of...

Don't Slip up in the wet Weather

Posted on October 28, 2013

Over Sunday night and Monday morning the UK was subjected to one of the worst storms in decades. Wind speeds were recorded as reaching nearly 100 mph, causing falling trees and loss of power in some areas. The storm brought with it heavy downpours of rain throughout the country, which led to flooding in certain places. As a result of the treacherous weather, there have been a number of disruptions to travel and transport services up and down the country, making the commute to work during rush hour more difficult than normal. Nevertheless, workers made their way through the wind and rain to get to their jobs this morning. In weather conditions such as this, the risk of people slipping on wet floors and surfaces dramatically increases. When it rains and people are travelling to work from their homes, whether it’s on foot, in the car or on the bus, the surfaces they walk upon can get very slippery. ...

Organisation Techniques to Assist the Chaotic

Posted on October 17, 2013

If you frequently feel a sense of despair when looking around your disorganised office, you are not alone. Chaotic offices are common, but they are very inefficient, increasing your stress and wasting your time searching for missing paperwork. It’s almost frightening how much paperwork can take over your life. But where should you start when you feel brave enough to start sorting it out? Clear your desk Keep your desk clear of things you aren’t working on at the moment. Fit enough drawers to cope with whatever you need to keep handy, and fit a filing unit beside, or underneath it. Position frequently used stationery where you can reach it from a sitting down position, and consider having a shelf fitted above the desk where you can place things that need to be done in the near future. Keep your stapler, pens, printer ink and other paraphernalia into a drawer, so they are not crowding your working space. Keep clutter minimal – items that are gathering dust have no place...

Daylight Robbery - Would You Call 999 on These Bike Thieves?

Posted on October 09, 2013

With more and more statistics being released about the number of bike thefts in the UK and the awareness of bike thieves operating around the country growing, you would think by now that people know how important it is, when using a bike, to lock it up safely and securely. Well, that may not be the case as the number of bikes being stolen in the UK is still high, with 7800 bikes reported stolen in May this year. Cambridgeshire Police took it upon themselves to shock people into securing their bikes more effectively. There were 2100 bikes were stolen in Cambridge in the last year. In an attempt to encourage people to lock up their bikes, Cambridgeshire Police hosted a small stunt that was captured on the city’s CCTV. Four actors were sent into the busy centre of Cambridge and there they were captured on CCTV stealing four bikes. The video clip shows a number of b...

The Emmys 2013

Posted on September 25, 2013

This weekend saw the ceremony of the 65th annual Primetime Emmy awards take place in Los Angeles. The award ceremony was full of the obligatory tears and thrills of acceptance speeches, some dodgy red carpet fashions and the trying-to-look-pleased faces of the losing nominees making a classic American award ceremony. The Emmys started out as a regional ceremony that commended works of television from just the Los Angeles area. In 1950, the awards went nation-wide and were broadcast to television networks all over the USA. The award itself is a golden figure of a winged woman, and after much deliberation the statuette was given the name “Emmy”. There were a number of famous names amongst this year’s winners. The American crime drama Breaking Bad picked up the award for best drama series, and actress Anna Gunn was awarded best supporting actress for her role in the series. The honour of receiving best actor went to Jeff Daniels for his role as TV anchor Will McAvoy in the p...

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...

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...

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...

CE Marking - Road Traffic Signs

Posted on August 18, 2013

Under the Construction Products Regulations (CPR), from 1st July 2013 it is a legal requirement for any permanent fixed road traffic sign that is going to be sold to have the CE mark. This regulation has been in place for many years in other parts of Europe, but in the UK, a manufacturer has been able to self-certify. However, now they are legally obliged to comply with the requirements. Who will be affected? This will new regulation will affect the manufacturers, specifiers, buyers and distributors/re-sellers. For manufacturers to be able to apply the CE mark to its products they will have to go through an audit and testing process to show that they are compliant with Annex ZA of the applicable European standard BSEN 12899:2007. They also have to be accredited with a certificate from a notified body such as SGS or BSI. All components used to manufacture the product must have the CE mark including materials, sign faces and finished signs. Specifiers...