Haven’t you at times felt that your office is a home away from home? You spend almost the same amount of time you spend at home in the office too (even more). You have your own seat to sit and work. You have your colleagues who love you. In a sense the office is your second home. So just as you take care of your house, you have to take care of the office too. Remember, you get the fruits (salary) only as long as the tree (organization) is alive. So take care of it. Don’t torture it to death. What is the reality? We are very careless while handling office resources. Rather we do not show any concern when we see valuable resources being wasted. We lack the feeling that our resources are being misused. Is it fair?
Let us see some instances of how office resources are commonly wasted (day-to-day basis) and how we can avoid them.
Unnecessarily switching on fans and lights
You might have noticed that in your office, lights are switched on, even when it is not at all necessary. Sometimes fans are busy working for no one. Why should you waste electricity like this? When there is enough natural light, you do not have to switch on the light. In the same way, switch on the fan only when you think it is needed. Why should it be working the whole day? If you see any light or fan being switched on without any reason, just switch it off. You are doing a service to your organization as well as the country.
Printouts are taken for no reasons - The printer would be churning out pages and pages, most of which would only fly around than being picked up by the person who gave the print command – this is also a common sight in offices. Most often what happens is that even when you really don’t need a page, you give the print command just because the printer is there. The feeling is that it is free. But remember, printouts come for a cost. The cost of the paper and the ink itself adds to a fair amount. Who bears the cost? The company. So, before taking printouts think twice. See if you really need it.
The photocopier too needs rest - Just like the printer, the photocopier is also being misused. Most often photocopies of irrelevant and unnecessary documents are taken. The more serious fact is that people make use of office photocopiers for personal use also. You can use your photocopier for official purposes, but it is not at all fair to use it to photocopy a document for your spouse or child or a friend.
The office phone - something official about it - Telephone is a hot favorite of almost every one in the office. Of course it is very essential for communication in the midst of work. However it is not fair to make personal calls using the office telephone. The fact remains that many people use it to make personal long distance calls. They have a sense of achievement that they are doing something great without spending a penny. Remember, you are making the company pay for your personal phone call. This is not fair.
Chat to glory, but not in office - Chat software and instant messengers have already changed the working pattern. People spent a lot of time chatting. Even after office hours, they sit for hours together to chat and surf the Net. They are exploiting office resources again to a very great extent. They eat away a considerable access time and bandwidth.
Open your eyes - Now open your eyes to the reality. Every time you waste resources, you are torturing the organization. What if almost all the people in your organization do this? The organization will not be able to withstand the pressure and it will collapse. Then who is going to pay you the salary? Don’t worry. You can avoid the situation. From now on, just be careful while handling office resources.
