It’s not just climbing the career ladder that workers are using the office printer for, however. Plane tickets and personal emails also featured high in the naughty list of items employees admitted to printing at work.
The study, by office suppliers Viking, suggests personal printing at work could be hitting Cambridge businesses hard in the pocket. The average employee prints non-work items at least once every week.
Cambridge companies have it easy in comparison to Newcastle though, which is home to the worst offenders followed by Bristol, while Liverpool has the most honest workers (0.72).
There appears to be little remorse either, with respondents admitting that they ‘print anything they can get away with’, and ‘anything that is personal without asking permission first’.
To help combat the cost to businesses, Viking has launched the Honesty Box, which office managers can download and place next to the printer for employees to contribute to.
| Top 10 non-work prints | |
| 1 | Documents for family members (35%) |
| 2 | Personal letters (26%) |
| 3 | Personal emails (23%) |
| 4 | Receipts (19%) |
| 4 | CV (19%) |
| 5 | Job application (16%) |
| 5 | Documents for friends (16%) |
| 5 | Plane tickets (16%) |
| 6 | Bank statements (13%) |
| 7 | Rail tickets (9%) |
Ruud Linders of Viking Europe, said: “It’s an unavoidable fact that people are going to print personal items at work, so we thought it was the perfect chance to encourage employees everywhere to get into the charitable spirit.
“Motivating people to donate when they (mis)use their office printer keeps people from feeling guilty and can easily raise a good amount of money. They pay for their printing, and the money can go towards a good cause, whether it’s a company-nominated charity or just replacing the office’s ink!”
Download the Viking Honesty Box
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For more information please contact Joseph Hill at Search Laboratory on 0113 212 1211 or [email protected].
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