Administrative Arts » General

Dealing With Change In The Workplace

Jodith — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0000

In today’s harsh economic climate, about the only thing that stays the same is change. Companies are downsizing, reorganizing, and rethinking everything they do. People are being laid off, duties are being passed around, and those left behind are dealing with the guilt and relief of not being on the chopping block.

Let’s face it, even positive change can cause discomfort, and the change in companies today isn’t always positive. For those living through constant change, the stress can eat you alive if you don’t deal with change in a positive manner.

Dealing with Change: Coping Techniques

How do you deal with the stress of change? Here are some ways to cope with change in the workplace.

Take time for yourself. It’s hard to de-stress when everyone around you needs something. Bar the spouse and the kids from the bathroom and enjoy a nice, long bubble bath with a glass of wine. Indulge yourself in your favorite hobby. Take time away for a spiritual retreat. Whatever way helps you cope, take some time away from the cares of your world and take care of yourself.
Look for hidden opportunities. Every cloud has a silver lining. Look for the opportunities hidden inside the workplace changes. Do you have the opportunity to learn a new skill? Is this the time to shine by volunteering to take some extra duties? Think outside the box and turn negatives into positives.
Live in the present. Constantly thinking about what was or worrying about what will be won’t change what is happening to you right now. When you find yourself lapsing into nostalgia or worry, bring your mind back to your present task. Focus on what you are doing right now.
Communicate. Share your feelings with friends and coworkers. It’s natural to be angry with change. Hiding that anger just makes you feel worse. Share your feelings in a constructive manner. Perhaps you can form a group of people to help support one another as they go through change. Having a support group can make all the difference.

Maintain Your Serenity

Whether or not you’re religious, the Serenity prayer is a great bit advice for coping with change.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

It’s sage advice. Let go of those things you have no control over. Work only on those things where you have some kind of control or say. The key, of course, is Wisdom, which I have too little of to advise others on how to gain it.

What do you think? How do you deal with change at work? Leave a comment and share you bit of wisdom with us all.

By the way, don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll. It’s in the sidebar.

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Eating At Your Desk – Should You?

Jodith — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Should administrative support personnel eat at their desks? Some organizations allow it. Some don’t. Professionally, though, whether it’s allowed or not, is eating at our desks something we should do?

Like many professional dilemmas, the answer is a resounding maybe. For some administrative support jobs, occasionally eating at your desk shouldn’t present a problem. For others, it should be absolutely forbidden.

Front Desk and Public Positions

Let’s face it, if your job is to be the face of your company at the front desk as a receptionist or in another public position, you should not be eating at your desk. Just think of the impression it gives to clients. They walk into your office and the first thing they see is you chowing down on a piece of birthday cake. It is not a pretty picture. Note: this applies to chewing gum as well. No gum!

If you have a need to eat frequently, use your break times for a snack, but keep the food away from public venues.

Lunching At Your Desk

I know some of us lunch at our desk because of the lack of appropriate lunch room facilities. If you eat lunch at your desk, though, make it obvious by having a sign you put on your desk that says “At Lunch”. It will let you eat your lunch in peace and make it clear you are not actually working. The Be Neat rule still applies, though.

Eating At Your Desk: The Rules

If your office isn’t in a public venue, and your office doesn’t have rules against it, then eating at your desk is usually not a problem. Use discretion, though. These are the rules I generally apply to eating at my desk.

Make it occasional. Someone brings in some cookies or it’s the monthly birthday celebration. Go ahead and have a snack at your desk. If you are eating at your desk every day, however, learn to use your break time for your snacks.
Be Neat. Use a napkin and clean up after yourself. Make sure you don’t leave any crumbs around to attract insects.
Take small bites. You still have to answer the phone, so take small bites that can be quickly swallowed so you can answer the phone quickly. Avoid chewy foods like toffees and caramel.
NO GUM! Seriously. No one wants to talk on the phone with you while you smack your gum. Stop it now!

What Are Your Rules

What rules reign in your office? Are you allowed to eat at your desk? What about your personal rules? Leave a comment and add your voice to the question. Can you and should you eat at your desk?Similar Posts:

7 Posts You May Not Have Read

Jodith — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Those of you who know me will know that I’m an avid reader and huge fan of Problogger, a blog written by Darren Rowse on…well…blogging. Last week, Darren talked about reintroducing content that your readers may not have read. He called it the 7 Link Challenge.

Well, I’m always up for a challenge, and I know a lot of my more recent readers may not have read some of my older but still applicable content. So, here it is, 7 Posts You May Not Have Read:

My First Post: Travel Arrangements To Wow Any Boss Part One. Almost three years later, I still get questions on making travel arrangements and dealing with a traveling boss, which is why Travel eventually got it’s own category.
The Post I Enjoyed Writing The Most: Rather than just one post, I’d have to say the whole So You’ve Been Laid Off series was my favorite thing to write. I was laid off in August 2006 and again in August 2008. Seeing the economy continue to drop and so many people, especially those in the administrative support field, losing their jobs, I decided to share what I had learned through my lay off experiences.
A Post Which Had a Great Discussion: I don’t actually get a great deal of comments on this blog. If it weren’t for my ever increasing subscriber and monthly page view stats, I’d think no-one read it *laughs*. However, Must Know Software for Administrative Assistants has received a fair few comments with some good suggestions.
A Post On Someone Else’s Blog I Wish I’d Written – E-mail Etiquette. I remember actually thinking, “I wish I’d written that” when I read it. As a matter of fact, I think I’ve linked it in blog posts a time or two.
My Most Helpful Post: Creating Recurring Tasks in Microsoft Outlook. This post continues to get hits a couple of years later, and I still get thank you’s from folks, so I’ll say this was probably my most helpful post.
Post With A Title I’m Proud Of: You May Not Read Minds But Convince The Boss You Can. I admit, I’m not a great title writer. They tend to be very straightforward and not very creative, but I liked this one.
Post I Wish More People Had Read: The Boss/Assistant Relationship. This outlines what I consider to be the cornerstone of being a good assistant. If I had to choose only one post that I thought every boss and every assistant should read, this one would be it.

That’s it. My 7 Link Challenge. I hope you enjoy those posts if you haven’t read them before. And if you blog or think you might one day want to blog, visit Problogger. I’ve learned just about everything I know about blogging from him.

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Weekly Links Roundup

Jodith — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:48:19 +0000

Here’s the latest roundup of links I’ve shared on Twitter. You can follow me on Twitter as AdmnArts for my business related tweets, and as Jodith for my personal, political, and spiritual tweets.

What I’m Reading: Avoiding Common Workplace Hazards and Injuries: Eyestrain | Human Resources Management | OfficeArrow officearrow.com/h…
What I’m Reading: Hey Intern – Your Momma Called, Said Put on Some Clothes…applies to job interviews too..check … firedoglake.com/2…
What I’m Reading: View Two Parts of the Same Word Document at the Same Time online-tech-tips….What I’m Reading: Word 2007 Table Tricks | OfficeArrow – these are some great tips officearrow.com/t…
What I’m Reading: Cost-Effective Staffing Strategies | Human Resources Management | OfficeArrow officearrow.com/h…
What I’m Reading: Five Ways to Increase Sales From Existing Customers | Owners Only | BNET blogs.bnet.com/sm…
RT @OfficeArrow: Less Paper Consumption = Save Money + Get Organized. Learn how to do it here: officearrow.com/o…
RT @VATrngOnline: 10 Excellent Slides You May Pass On to Virtual Assistant Clients http://digs.by/aixkCD

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Maintaining Your Office Supply Cabinet Part 2

Jodith — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

In my last post on maintaining office supplies, I talked about writing instruments and paper. Let’s continue on with other supplies you need in your office supply cabinet.

Folders

The types of folders you need to keep in your stock will depend on your particular office. At the very least, you need a supply of letter size manila file folders and hanging file folders. These come in a variety of colors and with a variety of accessories. If cost is a consideration, then the plain manila folders and standard green hanging files are all you really need. If you want to color code your files, you can get a variety of colors, but they’ll cost you more. You can also get them with pockets for disks, with brads to hold the papers in place, and all sorts of things that are handy to have, but not really necessary. If your office prints a lot of legal size paper, then you’ll want to have legal size file and hanging folders as well.

Other kinds of folders you might need based on your particular office are:

Classification Folders – These have multiple sections for separating paperwork and brads for holding papers in place. These folders are often used in offices that track jobs, like legal, construction, and graphic design offices. Classification folders are pricey for the cheapest plain manila folders. The heavier pressboard folders are even more expensive. Many offices, though, will buy the more expensive ones and use them over and over. After one job is complete, the paperwork is consolidated into a storage file, and the classification folder is used on a new job. The plain manila classification folders don’t really stand up to reuse.
Presentation Folders – These are used for…well…presentations. Salesmen use them to put copies of presentation materials together for prospective clients. They can be used for Board meeting packets or any time you want to have a nice looking, organized hand-out to give away. Presentation folders come in a variety of colors, forms and quality. You can even get folder kits that you can print on to get a nice, custom folder for your business.

Clips

For paper clips, you should have at the minimum No. 1 Paper Clips and Jumbo Paper Clips. Paper clips are pretty inexpensive items. You can get them in smooth, serrated edged, and even coated. Most people just use the plain smooth clips, though.

You’ll also need Binder Clips in a variety of sizes. Usually small, medium and large suffice. Some assistants use mini binder clips, but I find they hold about the same amount as the jumbo paper clip, so if cost is an issue, you can just settle for the jumbo paper clips. You can also get jumbo binder clips, but these are so large, you rarely need more than a few of them around the office. Generally, if you have that many papers that need to stay together, you put them in a folder.

Tape

You will, of course, need a supply of Tape to refill you tape dispensers. You’ll also need to keep at least one roll of Shipping Tape on hand, more if you frequently mail packages. Masking Tape, while not absolutely necessary, is nice to have on hand for temporary use like hanging a poster or sign. I find it tends to hold a bit better than scotch tape, but won’t pull the paint off the wall like shipping tape.

Next time, we’ll look at desk set items like staplers, rulers, tape dispensers, etc.

Note: all Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.
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Should You Text Your Boss?

Jodith — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

photo credit: ydhsu

While perusing the many blogs that I follow, I saw this blog post on LifeHacker about the etiquette of texting your boss. It started me thinking about how much technology has changed during my career and how we respond to it as Administrative and Executive Assistants. Using text messages is a good example of technology that we can embrace.

Like all technology, though, texting can be good and bad. You need to have guidelines to follow when using texting to contact your boss. Some of the questions/guidelines I can think of would be:

Always ask the boss if texting is acceptable. Some digital plans charge extra for text messages, so make sure his plan covers it.
If your boss is using a company provided phone, make sure you know the company policy about texting. There may be guidelines and limitations on use of text messages.
Have guidelines for when texting is appropriate. For instance, use texting when you need to contact your boss urgently, but she is in a place where she can’t answer her phone. If the issue isn’t urgent, then perhaps e-mail is a better method of contact. Discuss this issue with your boss.
Regardless of the way you use text messaging in your personal life, avoid using text slang when sending text messages at work. First, not everyone understands text-speak, and “4” and “ur” just look completely unprofessional. Spell out your words.
Regardless of what the survey says, you should NEVER ask for a raise by text message. Seriously.

Since this is an area where few guidelines tend to exist, what do you think? What guidelines do you think are needed for texting the boss? Leave a comment with your ideas. If you are reading this post in your e-mail or blog reader, click through to the Administrative Arts website to leave a comment.Similar Posts:

Maintaining Your Office Supply Cabinet

Jodith — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Most of the time when we take a new administrative assistant or executive assistant position, part of our job duties is to order and maintain office supplies. Often, there is an already existing office supply cabinet, and we simply take note of what is currently used and reorder as necessary.

If you have to set up your office supply cabinet from nothing, though, what all do you need to order? Obviously, some specifics will be dictated by the type of office you work in and local preferences, but some generalities can certainly be added to your list.

Pens and Pencils

I generally stock three basic colors of pens: black, blue and red. Medium point pens tend to be the favorite, but you may get requests occasionally for fine point. I find gel ink pens to be a nice mid-priced pen, but if expenses are an issue, good, old-fashioned ballpoints work just fine, and you can get great deals by buying store brands. My personal favorite pen is the Pilot G2 Retractable Gel Ink Roller Ball Pen (associate link). It’s a nice mid-price pen with a good grip, smooth writing flow, and it doesn’t leak ink like some other gels I’ve bought in the past.

If anyone uses mechanical pencils, keep a supply of lead on hand, but you should probably keep a small supply of plain #2 pencils. The amount of pencils and lead to keep around will vary depending on your industry. Engineers tend to use a great deal of pencils. Social workers not so much. A few erasers are also good to have in the closet. The Clic Eraser Pen Style Erasers (associate link) are popular with folks who use pencils frequently.

Pads and Paper

Obviously you need copy paper on hand. Copy paper is a good way to save money if that is a consideration. However, be aware that the cheapest copy paper can also cause jam problems in today’s high speed copiers and printers. So if buying the absolutely cheapest paper isn’t a necessity, and you don’t want to spend part of every day on your hands and knees in front of the copier, you might want to look at a mid-grade copy paper.

Keeping a ream or three of various colored copy paper is good to have on-hand. Every once in a while someone will want to color code a document or cover pages.

Writing pads are another item of which you should keep adequate supplies. The specifics, again, will depend on the folks you work with. Most of the time, I find white, 8.5×11 legal pads satisfy most people. Again, if money is an issue, look at the store brands for a good deal on legal pads. I’ve found that employees who are frequently out of the office, such as salespeople and case managers, tend to like spiral notebooks or steno pads because the pages don’t come loose easily, and they can track their notes better. Again, though, the specifics will vary from office to office.

Post-it type pads are another item to keep stocked, preferably in a number of sizes. I usually keep the smallest notepads (1.5×2) and the 3×3 notepad on hand. If you have people who use the pop-up holders, you’ll need to get the fan fold post-it pads.

Next Post: Folders, Clips, and other necessitiesSimilar Posts:

Screening Sales Calls

Jodith — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:48:04 +0000

I’ve talked before about Screening Calls to Make Your Boss More Productive, but I didn’t discuss sales calls in particular. Telemarketers are wily characters that will do their best to try and fake you out and get you to put their calls through. It’s your job as an administrative or executive assistant to hold the line and not let them through.

The Easy Calls

Some calls are obviously sales calls

“May I speak to the person in charge of purchasing decisions for XYZ?”
“Who do you currently buy your office supplies from?”

My immediate response to these types of questions is always, “What are you selling?” They’ll give you a song and dance, start asking questions, but don’t give in. Eventually they will either tell you what they’re selling or they’ll hang up. For those who tell me what they are selling, if it is something we might need, I tell them to send us a brochure. If they want a name, tell them to put your name on it, and you’ll forward it to the correct person. Never, ever give them the name of the person who would do the purchasing. They’ll just use that to bypass you the next time they call.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

There’s no way to put a nice face on it. Sales people will flat out lie to you to get through to your boss. Don’t trust it.

“Hi, can I speak to Bob?”

OK, this one isn’t so much a blatant lie as an attempt to fool you into thinking he knows your boss. The reply to this one is, “If you’ll give me your name, I’ll see if he is available.” If you only get a first name in reply, then ask what company he’s with. If you keep getting a song and dance, don’t let him through. Remember, even if this is a legitimate call for your boss, it’s better to get a name and number, and let your boss decide about calling back. I usually marked these messages as suspected sales calls. I’d review them with the boss, just in case they were legitimate, so I’d know in the future. Generally, if people have legitimate business with your boss, they are happily forthcoming with information, because they know it’s your job to protect your boss’s time.

“I’m returning Bob’s call.”

Now, this one is generally a blatant, bald-faced lie. Again, you treat it the same way as the other calls. If unsure, get a name and number and run it by the boss later. Don’t put them through.

“I’m a friend of Bob’s.”

Again with the lies. If this person is really a friend, they won’t mind leaving a name and number.

Confusion Reigns

Some marketers will just try to confuse you into letting them through.

“This is John from XYZ Company. Your President is Mr. Howther, is that correct? I need to speak with him immediately.”

This marketer wants to intimidate you into letting his call through. He puts on an air of authority and throws a lot of information at you in order to confuse you and hopefully get through to his mark. Don’t fall for it. A simple, “May I ask why you are calling,” is often all that is necessary. If they don’t want to give you any information, then the boss will remain “unavailable”. Take a name and number and mark it as a possible sales call.

Verifying Information

This gambit is one of my favorites.

“This is not a sales call. We just need to verify some company information.”

It’s true, they don’t want to sell your company anything directly. What they don’t say is they are verifying information so they can sell it to another company to try and sell you things. I firmly let them know that we do not verify that kind of information, and I hold to that. If they won’t give up, I eventually hang up on them.

Be the Gatekeeper

Screening calls is probably one of the most important aspects of an administrative or executive assistant’s job. Remember, you’re the gatekeeper. It’s up to you who gets to talk to your boss. Always be polite but firm when protecting your boss’s time.

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Office Supplies An Administrative Assistant Needs At Her Desk

Jodith — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:00:43 +0000

Let’s face it, as executive and administrative assistants, we never seem to have enough space in our desk to keep everything we need. Space always seems to be at a minimum. It’s hard to keep everything we need handy and still keep our desks looking neat and organized.

So what exactly do we need to keep either on our desk or in a handy drawer? Here’s a list of things I consider important to have easily available:

Stapler and staples – Do yourself a favor and get a decent stapler. Also, make sure you’re using the right staples for your stapler and that you’re using good quality staples. Good staples cost marginally more than bad ones, and you will probably end up saving money by not having to restaple your papers 5 times before the staple actually punctures the paper.
Tape – While you might not need tape every day, when you need it, you usually need it immediately. So keep your tape dispenser handy.
Ruler – Rulers are handy for so many things: as a straight edge for drawing lines, as a guide for data entry, even for actually measuring things. It may not need to go on your desk, but you need to have it handy.
Tablet or Notebook – I live or die by my notebook. I always have one handy to make notes and write things down so I don’t forget.
3-Hole Punch – Again, get a decent 3-hole punch, one that can punch more than 2 or 3 sheets at a time. Remember, the punches get dull after a while, so if the punches aren’t replaceable, get a whole new unit when it stops punching cleanly.
Pens and pencils – Keep a variety of pens in different colors available. Red is great for proofreading, blue is important for signing contracts, and black is just your basic utilitarian pen. Whether you keep them in a holder on your desk or in a drawer is up to you.
Highlighters – Again, keep a variety of colors handy. It’s helpful when analyzing data to be able to color code with highlighters.

Post-it Notes – Have a variety of sizes for different uses.
Post-it flags – Especially keep the “Sign Here” ones handy, but some plain ones in 2 or 3 colors are good to have as well.
Dictionary – Granted, you can look things up on-line these days, but when you need to prove your point to the boss, having the dictionary right there is handy.
Reference Manuals – Style guides, letter writing guides, industry references, whatever you need for the job you’re in.
File folders – I like plain manila folders myself, but some people like to use colored folders. I usually use colored folders for the ones I keep for the boss, i.e. “read this”, “sign this”, and “urgent-look at this immediately” type folders.
Calendar – Yes, I know, we have Outlook on our computers, but I don’t want to switch programs every time I need to look at a date.
Scissors – We always need to cut something.
Sewing Kit – Just one of those little travel sewing kits is great to have in your desk. You never know when the boss’s hem will come unsewed or a button pop off of his shirt. Always make sure the boss looks good when he leaves the office.

These are the things I consider to be the bare minimum of equipment I keep in or on my desk. Everyone is different though. What do you consider is absolutely necessary to have at your desk? Leave a comment and let us know.Similar Posts:

Creating a Professional Voicemail Message

Jodith — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:00:21 +0000

I think everyone can agree that first impressions are important. But what happens when that first impression is your voicemail greeting? We’ve all heard some of those greetings that sound like the person is eating while they talk. The ones where they only have, “Please leave a message for…(in a woman’s voice), John Doe…(in a man’s voice), after the tone (in a woman’s voice).” How much of an impression are you giving if you aren’t even willing to record an actual message? So, let’s look at ways to make your voicemail greeting more professional.

What Needs To Be Said

First of all, what needs to be included in your voicemail greeting?

Your Name – don’t you hate those with no name, and you’re never sure if you’re leaving a voicemail for the right person?
Your Company’s Name
Your Title
If you’re an administrative or executive assistant, your boss’s name.
A message
How to get a live person, or at least back to the main menu.

Put it all together, and you get something like:

“You’ve reached the desk of Suzie Queue, Executive Assistant to John Doe, at XYZ Corporation. I’m not available to take your call at the moment. After the tone, please leave your name, number and a brief message, and I will return your call as soon as possible. Thanks and have a great day! You may also press 0 to return to the operator.”

Short (okay, not so short), sweet and to the point. Now, onto the actual recording of the message.

Recording Your Message

One of the big problems people make when recording a greeting is forgetting what they want to say, so they get a lot of ums and uhs and errs in their recording. My solution is to write out my greeting so I can read it as I record.

Practice Makes Perfect

Once you get your greeting written out, practice it a couple of times. Hearing it out loud will help highlight awkward phrasing, which you can then change. You’ll also become more comfortable with the phrasing, so you sound less stilted when you record. You want to speak in a natural voice, and don’t forget to sound cheerful. It helps to smile as you speak. You don’t have to be Miss Mary Sunshine, but you don’t want to sound one step away from flinging yourself off a high building either.

As soon as you feel comfortable, create your recording. Afterward, don’t just automatically accept it. Listen to the greeting. If it doesn’t sound right to you, record it again. I’ve been known to record my greeting 3 or 4 times before I decide it’s right.

Remember, you may never get another opportunity to change this first impression. Make it count!

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Have You Got Google Wave?

Jodith — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:00:01 +0000

Google Wave is the newest application of the ever popular Google company. They’ve taken a variety of IM and networking tools and made a truly unique collaboration interface.

You can, of course, communicate with others in Wave as if you were in an IM, but you can do so much more than that. You can work on a document together, each typing at the same time, making changes as you go, attach documents, look things up on Google map, all within one screen. As more developers create add-ons, it will become more and more versatile. Even in it’s current beta stage, it already has some very cool functionality.

The Google Wave team has uploaded a number of videos over on YouTube to help people get started using Wave. Check some of them out to see the functionality of Wave.

If you’re already using Wave, you can connect with me at the e-mail address on the sidebar.

Do You Need a Google Wave Invitation?

If you’re not using Google Wave yet, I have some invitations left still. Send me your e-mail address (at the e-mail on the sidebar) and I’ll send you an invite. Note: You will need a Google account to use this (don’t worry, it’s free). If you (like me) have multiple Google accounts, be sure to be logged in to the Google account you want to use with Wave before you click on the invitation.

How Do You Like Wave?

Leave a comment and tell us how you like Wave! Is it useful? How do you think it might be able to help you in the office?

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Saving Money on Office Supplies

Jodith — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:00:58 +0000

One of the ubiquitous duties of administrative assistants everywhere is ordering office supplies. In the current economic climate saving money on those supplies is more important than ever. You’d be amazed at the amount of waste you can cut just through better control of office supplies. You can attack this project of saving money from several different angles.

Compare Companies

Often when you start a new job, you already have an approved office supply vendor. But unless you are in a very large company, you may still have leeway in who you use to buy office supplies. Call several different companies and talk to a sales rep, and don’t forget your local vendors. If your company buys supplies directly at a store, look into the options of setting up an account with an on-line service like Staples, OfficeMax, or Office Depot. Because they aren’t supporting the cost of a store, they can often give you prices much lower than you’d get in a store, and much lower even than their prices listed on their website. You often get a significant discount if you have an account with them. Don’t forget to factor shipping costs into your decision to go with a particular vendor.

Find Lower Cost Alternatives

Once you are set up with the company that will give you the best deal, look at what you’re actually buying. I was working for a small non-profit that was paying almost $10 for a box of 12 pens. I switched to a less expensive pen for which we paid less than $2 a box. Did people complain? They sure as heck did. But I referred them to the Finance Director who explained the realities of the budget to them. I think it went something like, “You can have raises or pens.”

Look at everything you buy. If you’re buying name brand, look for a generic version. If you’re already on generic, look for a lower frills version.

Watch the Office Supply Hoarders

You know who they are. Every time you fill the office supply cabinet, they come and take half the supplies to hide away in their office. If you look in their desk, they have dozens of pens, sticky pads, and folders, all absolutely unused. These folks can cost you a fortune in office supplies by forcing you to buy more than is actually needed. Write up a nice memo from your boss to be distributed asking folks nicely not to hoard office supplies. Then start raiding their desks when they’re not looking (with your boss’s permission, of course). One person’s desk I cleaned out literally had about $200 worth of unused office supplies hidden away.

Take the Time

The first few office supply orders you make are going to take you considerably longer than usual as you look at various options and costs. It’s possible, depending on your level of authority, that you’ll need to put together a proposal and present it to your boss about changing companies or brands. But taking that time will pay off very well in the end. Depending on the size of your company and the amount of waste, you could end up saving $100′s or even $1,000′s every year in office supplies alone.

How Do You Handle Office Supplies?

What are your tips for saving money on office supplies? Leave a comment and let us know. If you’re reading this in your e-mail or in a feed reader, you’ll need to click through to the website to leave a comment.Similar Posts:

10 Things To Do When the Computer Is Down

Jodith — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:11:04 +0000

Don’t you hate it when the computer or network is down? You feel like you can’t do anything, we’re so attuned to doing everything electronically these days. After you call the tech folks, what do you do then?

We had a network outage last week, and I had to look around for a few minutes before I really started thinking of things to do while the computer was down.

Here’s some of the things I found to do:

Catch up on filing. If your filing is already caught up (lucky you, mine never is), review your filing system. Are the categories and subcategories you’re currently using still useful? Times change and sometimes you have to change your filing system with them.
Read the trade magazines. I don’t know about your office, but most of my bosses have received constant streams of trade magazines. When he was finished, I’d snitch them to read. It always helps to have current knowledge on your industry. It helps you support the boss better, and it impresses him when he doesn’t have to explain industry terms.
Check your supply of forms. Do you need to photocopy more? This is a good time to attack those.
Ditto for office supplies. Clean out the cabinet, check supplies, see what you need to order.
Ditto for stationary supplies. Envelopes, letterhead, custom notepads, etc. Review your stock and see if you need to order more.
If your office uses pre-made folders for clients, take this time to make up spares to get ahead of the need.
Clean your desk. It’s amazing how dirty our desks can get, isn’t it? I like to take time every once in a while to move everything and clean it all. This is a great time.
Shred that stack of papers you’ve been meaning to get to.
Have a big project coming up? Spend some time brainstorming and making notes for the project.
Do some of those great exercises you can do at your desk. Of course, you’ll need to know them before hand, since the computer is down *laughs*.

If you’re like me, you always have some kind of manual work to do, but you tend to put it off. Times when the computer or network is down are a great time to catch up on things like that.

What do you do when your computer is down?

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Year End Retrospective

Jodith — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:00:20 +0000

The end of the year is upon us once again. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a nice, quiet holiday at home with the dogs and cats.

As the sun returns and we look forward to a new year, it’s nice to look back at the year just past. It was a good year at Administrative Arts. The number of readers has grown hugely, and I’m getting a great deal of love from the search engines. I thank each and every one of you who reads this blog, and I especially thank all of you who have taken time to tell me how much you enjoy it and how it’s helped you in your work. That’s what we bloggers live for.

Let’s take a look at the most popular content during 2009. I’ll first list the most popular content written in 2009, and then the most popular content overall for this last year.

Looking Forward to the New Year

Thanks again for a great year, everyone. I’ll be doing my best to see that 2010 is even better. I’ve got some great ideas for the coming year, so I hope you all stick around for it.

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What the Heck Has Happened to Customer Service

Jodith — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:00:45 +0000

I often talk about Customer Service here on Administrative Arts, because I consider it to be such an important aspect of your job, regardless of your job description. Well, this morning, I was caught in my own personal customer service brouhaha, and I thought I would share it with all of you to illustrate some points.

On Friday morning, I called my local discount store pharmacy (who shall remain nameless, but you can probably figure out who they are, since they’re everywhere) to transfer some prescriptions. With times being so hard and money being tight, I’m moving my prescriptions to the discount store to save money. When I spoke to the person on the phone, I emphasized that one of the prescriptions was most important because I was almost out. That one prescription was a priority, and I’d need to pick it up on Sunday. I was very clear on that point.

Well, guess what happened when I got to the discount store on Sunday morning? Yep, they had the two other prescriptions, but not the one that I had pointed out as being the most important. The store declared they had no record of the prescription, and when the pharmacist called the grocery store pharmacy to get the information, he was told there were no refills on that prescription. I knew this wasn’t true, because I always double check my prescriptions before requesting refills. He was rather rude and snotty about it, so needless to say, I left in a rather cranky mood.

I returned home and checked the prescription bottle, and sure enough, I had two refills left. I called the grocery store pharmacy, and they told me the prescription had been transferred on Friday! At this point I was ready to rip my hair out, since by then, I’d missed my dose of medication. I called the discount store, and told them what the grocery store had said. He was again a bit shirty with me, and told me that the pharmacist he spoke to said that there were no refills and the prescription shouldn’t have been transferred. You’ll note here an acknowledgement that the prescription had been transferred. He never acknowledged it otherwise nor addressed what happened to it between Friday and Sunday.

By now, I’m pretty much seeing red. I call the grocery store one more time and this time spoke to the pharmacist. She apologized profusely. She had looked at the wrong screen on her computer and only saw no refills, which was, of course, because the prescription had been transferred. She said she would call immediately and give the other pharmacy all of the information.

After I finally got my medication (and immediately took it so hopefully my blood pressure wouldn’t blow the top of my head off), I thought about today’s little fracas and what we could learn from it.

The Mistakes Made

In this case, both stores made mistakes. The discount store made the first mistake by losing the prescription to start with. We know it was transferred, because the other store confirmed that. The discount store just flat out screwed up.

The grocery store pharmacy made a mistake as well by telling the pharmacist there were no refills remaining on the prescription.

The difference, though, was in how the stores each handled the issue, which is an essential customer service issue.

Looking at the Differences

At the discount store, I was treated rudely, with little courtesy, and I never once received an apology. Granted, they did give me a small discount on the medication, but the fact that they neither acknowledged their mistake nor apologized for it will be long remembered by me. They also did little to correct the mistake. I’m the one that had to go through the frustration of figuring out what happened and get it corrected.

The grocery store, however, acknowledged their mistake, explained in detail what happened and why, and most importantly, they apologized for the mistake. This will also be long remembered by me.

Lessons To be Learned

I can tell you right now. As soon as money isn’t so tight, I will not be shopping at the discount store and all of my medications will be transferred back to the grocery store pharmacy. Not only because they were polite, but because they did their best to figure out the problem and to get it fixed. When I called them back the second time, they had already realized the error and were working to correct it. So even though their services cost more, they are the pharmacy I would much prefer filling my medication needs.

So what lessons can we learn from this? Price is not the only factor when people need something. While the discount stores may have a foot up in a poor economy, they do not build customer loyalty by being rude and unhelpful, not to mention refusing to even acknowledge that they messed up. So while some of us may be forced to shop there now, when the economy improves, they’ll be losing a lot of business .

So here are our customer service lessons:

If you make a mistake, acknowledge it and work to get it fixed.
Even if you didn’t make a mistake, when you have an unhappy customer, try your best to fix whatever the problem is.
Apologize for the customers unhappiness, even if you aren’t at fault. It goes a long way to soothing the client and to building customer loyalty.
Especially apologize if you are at fault. A simple, “I’m sorry,” can carry a lot of weight.

What’s Your Experience

We can often learn basic lessons from our every day experiences. What has happened in your life that illustrates a good customer service lesson? Leave a comment and share with us all. (Note: if you are reading this by e-mail or RSS reader, you’ll need to click through to the web site to leave a comment.)

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Year End Retrospective

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What the Heck Has Happened to Customer Service

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Lessons To be Learned