The humble work printer can reveal more of the confidential goings-on in an office than most people realise, as a recent survey revealed.
Technology moguls are increasingly pressurising companies to move towards a paperless office (which usually involves buying their hardware). But old habits die hard, and printing documents remains a daily activity for the majority of businesses.
A 2010 survey revealed that worldwide page volume from printers reached 3.1 trillion in the same year, and the demand for ink and paper shows no sign of abating. In fact, the global printer market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.5 per cent for two more years, according to market research firm TechNavio.
So what exactly is being printed? Cartridgesave.co.uk surveyed more than 500 of its customers to find out what their office printer said about them and their workplace. Part of the research revealed that many people are anxious about their jobs. Employees are working later than ever, skipping lunch breaks and taking work home with them, and the urge to get everything done is not always conducive to remembering what you have printed out while you were there.
However, the survey revealed that one in every five people has found confidential business documents, left by someone else, on the printer. In what must be a huge HR faux-pas, one in seven people have found a P45 destined for a colleague and the same amount have discovered confidential employee records.
Other discoveries reflect the current climate of job anxiety, with a total of 19.4 per cent of you either leaving a copy of your own CV at the printer or stumbling upon someone else?s (the survey doesn?t mention the total successfully printed and handed out elsewhere). Similarly, 11.7 per cent admitted printing documents to add to their portfolio so they could search for another job, and 15.7 per cent printed out their resignation letter in the office. Just over three per cent even printed evidence of defamatory emails about their boss or other colleagues, presumably to provide a final coup de gr?ce if they had trouble leaving their role.
The survey also sheds light on perhaps the biggest reason behind continued office printing expenses: the printing of non-work-related material. More than a third of staff reported finding such material on the printer and the majority admitted to printing copies of personal information (34 per cent), reservation confirmations (54.7 per cent) or vouchers (44.6 per cent). However, some of you are naughtier than others, with a shy 1.8 per cent saying they have printed love letters but then forgotten to pick them up. On the other hand, producing hard copies of holiday paperwork seems to be an accepted norm, with almost exactly half of those surveyed admitting to printing off boarding passes.
As a final example of printing activities that are best left at home, 5.6 per cent of those surveyed found scans of body parts left behind on the printer. Maybe it?s time the poor over-worked, under-appreciated and frequently abused printer got the retirement it deserves: bring on the paperless office!
Additional information and survey contributed by Ian Cowley, MD of cartridgesave.co.uk.
