Workplace Blog

Personal Touches to Your Workspace

Posted on October 04, 2014

Last year, we published a blog post titled: ‘How to choose the best art for your office’. With this in mind, considering the new canvases we have just had delivered to the office, I thought it would be amusing to compare the factors of what makes the best office art along with what we now have hanging on our walls! The above article states that first impressions and company considerations are important for office decoration, however it also suggests that you should select bold colours and original pieces. This is what we have tried to achieve with our new images; what do you think? ...

The Advantages of Kerb Ramps

Posted on October 03, 2014

One of our more popular products here at The Workplace Depot are our kerb ramps. Admittedly, this product has more than one name associated with it as it is suitable for a number of different uses; although the main reason is to manoeuvre a wheeled vehicle or object up a kerb smoothly and securely. What can they be used for? We have come to realise that not only are kerb ramps useful for loading or unloading vehicles such as cars, vans and lorries, they are also handy for wheelchairs, trucks, trolleys, wheelbarrows, pushchairs, caravans, motorbikes, scooters and bikes. Kerb ramps are ideal for preventing damage from vehicle wheels, allowing easy access for wheelchair users and those that constantly have to manoeuvre up and down ramps. They are extremely helpful for loading and unloading large, heavy products that might be placed on sack trucks...

National Home Security Month

Posted on October 01, 2014

As the darker nights come in, the burglars come out. According to the National Home Security Month (NHSM) website there is a 20% increase in home burglaries when it’s darker outside. After taking this in to consideration, NHSM was born to create awareness around home security and the importance of this, especially within these darker months. October is the month to become more aware of your personal security; not only does securing your home give you peace of mind, it can reduce your insurance premiums. NHSM breaks down different elements of your home security week-by-week to allow you to focus on certain features separately and easily. Week 1 NHSM advise you to check the fundamental information on the current burglary statistics within your area. This can be carried out by downloading the Yale Crime Watcher app on to your phone. T...

Coding in the Curriculum – Encouraging Children to Learn

Posted on September 23, 2014

This week has marked the introduction of coding in to schools all across and country as part of the new curriculum, with the hope that it will encourage more children to aspire to work in the digital industry. The EU has estimated that by the year 2020, there will be over one million jobs in the digital industries that will be unfilled. Consequently, coding will now need to be understood by parents, teachers and employers alike in order to build confidence in young people to seek job roles in the digital sector. It is also thought that the starter of this coding syllabus stems from subjects such as ICT at schools falling in to disrepute, due to the fact that knowledge of Microsoft Office does not result in gaining a good job or getting in to university. On the contrary, coding, even basic coding, is an excellent starting point for children to learn as young as possible, in relation to landing a good job. The Importance of the Digital Industry...

Online Retail Award Winners for the Second Year Running!

Posted on September 18, 2014

The Workplace Depot have done it again, for the second year running, we have won the Online Retail Award in the ‘Office and Workplace Supplies’ category! Over 50 companies including the likes of: Halfords, Littlewoods, RAC, Vodafone and Very.co.uk turned up to this event, in the hope to take home an award, some of them not being as lucky as The Workplace Depot, we were nominated for: ‘Office and Workplace Supplies’ and ‘Small Size Online Retailer Site of the Year’. Unfortunately we only took home the one award, however we can’t be greedy and there’s always next year! Four members of our web team had the honour of attending the event and collecting the award on the night, Richard Bloomfield Website Editor for The Workplace Depot, who attended both the 2014 and 2013 awards added: “It is an amazing achievement to win the award for the Office and Workplace Supplies category in two consecutive years. The judges seemed particularly impressed with the giant steps...

Advantages of Customer Service in the Workplace

Posted on September 13, 2014

Most, if not all, businesses have some sort of customer service in place – whether they really know it or not! However those that do know it, are sure to benefit from it. Speaking on behalf of a company who specialises in customer service, I have recognised the importance of, as well as treating the customer well throughout the initial process of using your product or service, it is extremely beneficial when following up on customers to ensure after care. Whether that’s a simple phone call to guarantee all is well with the product or if they enjoyed the service, or even an email just to let them know that you are appreciative of their individual custom and would like to welcome them again, these are nice things to hear as a customer and you become remembered. Three Advantages of Customer Service Customer/Client Loyalty; as previously touched on, treating the customer with care can result in repeat custom and customer loyalty. Han...

Small Steps to Improving Your Office Appearance

Posted on September 08, 2014

Unless you are a lucky employee at one of the Top 5 Seriously Cool Places to Work discussed in one of our previous blog posts, you might find that your surroundings are that of an average looking office. Of course, not all establishments have the funds or space available to set up nap pods and tree-houses in their work environments, or dish out unlimited free food in the company canteen, but there is certainly other equipment available for more simple steps to making your office feel friendlier for both staff and visitors. Here at The Workplace Depot, we meet with clients in our boardroom, which contains a fridge filled with refreshments and a large TV focused in the centre of the table in order to project presentations easily and effectively. Although these are small features, we like to think they add a bit of a personal touch to this part of our office...

Top 10 Cool Office Gadgets

Posted on September 06, 2014

After crawling the internet I wanted to write something that all office workers would enjoy reading – something the majority of us envy every time we see something similar. In this case I have picked out 10 of my favourite office gadgets that would make life at your desk a little bit better and would never fail to put a smile on your face. USB Cup Warmer / Cooler This is one of my favourite gadgets I have ever seen. The ability to keep your drinks cold or warm, depending on what it is, whilst you’re sat at your desk – Brilliant! Image Credited - Designyourway ...

Boardroom Etiquette

Posted on September 05, 2014

There are those of us who enjoy our monthly, weekly or maybe even daily meetings at work, and then there are those of us who do not. Unfortunately there’s not a lot that can be done about meetings, we have to have them to increase communication and understand what is expected of us. Tips for the Table With this in mind, for the things we can’t avoid in life, we can simply make the best of. Therefore we are going to provide you with some guidelines for the appropriate boardroom etiquette and how you can get through a meeting as easy as possible. Firstly, ensure you arrive early, or at least on time. There are a number of reasons for this; you want to set a good example, you don’t want to be the last person who turns up and you don’t want to miss anything. Even though we are quickly progressing in to a paperless world, the continual tapping of keyboards in quieter surroundings such as meetings may pose as a distraction to those w...

Listening to the Radio at Work – Increasing Productivity

Posted on September 02, 2014

Like most people, I like to have music on whilst working; one of the few facts I like to throw around is that listening to music, particularly in the workplace, increases productivity. But one of the first, troubling choices we have to make of the day includes which radio station to listen to. Admittedly, if you work in an office for 8 hours a day, it’s hard to avoid hearing songs getting repeated (which is one of our pet peeves here at The Workplace Depot!) Consequently we like to mix up our playlists every now and again (if you are intrigued give Top 50 Workplace Songs and Top 20 Motivational Workplace Songs a read/listen). However, on the days when no one really wants to put a lot of effort in to choosing some songs to form a playlist, we...

National Friendship Month 2014

Posted on September 01, 2014

As its Monday, we thought we would start the week off with a bit of a cheery one. You may have noticed that we like raising knowledge of National Awareness days and today is no different. In fact we are stretching to a whole month of awareness and it’s one that can be applied to everybody. September marks National Friendship Month and it is believed that recognising having a supportive circle of friends not only makes you feel happier, but healthier too. This being said, as we spend a large percentage of our time at work, it is important that we maintain friendly relationships with our colleagues as well as our friends outside of the workplace for a happily balanced lifestyle. Making Friends at Work There are a number of ways in which this can be achieved, for example through team building exercises that we have touched on before in a previous blog post: Creativity in the Workplace – Team Building, however types of activities such as ice...

Boardroom Essentials

Posted on August 26, 2014

It doesn't matter if you are a new business or an existing one; you need to make sure you have a nice boardroom to make sure everybody is comfortable and obviously to impress all of your clients – first impressions and all that! So before organising any meetings, make sure your boardroom is well equipped with the essentials. If you are a company like Google and have plenty of money and thousands of staff; you could go with the option of kitting out your boardroom with unique designs and expensive equipment, such as: smartboards, mini bars, lazy boy chairs, mood lights, etc. However if this isn't you, you could go for the more traditional board room layout with all of the essentials, yet still look good! Starting with the main focus of the room, where everybody will be looking; the whiteboard. You need to have a main focus point of your room, when you...