Page 23 - BOSS Today Issue 43

BOILING THE FROG BOSS Today #43

THE TIMES THEY ARE

STILL A CHANGIN’

uring the last six years the needs of What does the new survey reveal about What’s New?
Dthe office workforce have continued the UK workforce at present? Compared With the workplace changing so fast,
to change as technology and workers’ to the previous study, some results are the the new report includes a host of new
behaviour have evolved further, while young same, some are different and – because questions designed to assess today’s
staff have also entered the workplace with new questions have been asked in this office workers’ needs and behaviour:
often very different ideas and expectations 2019 report – some are entirely new.
about what it means to work in an office. n To what extent is product
That’s the broad conclusions of a new What’s The Same? colour important?
research report by OPI and MWA (Martin Few comparable results remain entirely n Do workers share a printer and
Wilde Associates) entitled Boiling The Frog: unchanged from those recorded in the has this affected their usage?
Revisited. Published in January 2019, this new previous survey. One example is that, n Are printer cartridges
c200 page report repeats many of the key unsurprisingly, the main reason why sourced via MPS?
questions in the groundbreaking 2012 OPI/ respondents have reduced their usage of n How important is it that an employer
MWA Boiling The Frog report, which showed many key OP items in the last five years provides a variety of worker benefits,
that young office workers can behave very is still digitisation/computerisation. such as ‘Barista-style’ coffee, sit/
differently from their older colleagues in stand workstations, social spaces/
terms of usage of office products (OP): What’s Different? breakout areas, natural lighting and
In general, most of the differences the latest technology products?
n Which OP items are regularly from the results of the last report are n Do workers have the opportunity
being used at work? due to an intensification of previous to buy products? Where from?
n Which products are being used trends. For example, although there n Is Amazon/Amazon Business
more – and less – than in 2012? is still a wide range of office products being used to source OP? If so,
n To what extent are product branding being used regularly (ie every week) for which product categories?
and eco-friendly products important? by respondents, virtually all of the OP n How do workers select OP items? Are
n To what extent are documents being products investigated by this report online product reviews important?
printed out and filed/stored? are now being used significantly n What aspects of a supplier’s
n What methods are used for formal and less widely in UK workplaces than in digital content and web site
informal written communication? 2012, as the below table shows: most engage these workers?
n What social networking sites
are used for work? Boiling The Frog: Revisited
n Where are hot drinks OP ITEMS USED REGULARLY 2019 Study 2012 Study is essential reading for
sourced from at work? Pens 90% 98% any company management
n How will the use of OP change Notepads/memo pads 86% 83% team that is serious
in the next five years? about understanding how
Envelopes 76% 81% demand in the OP market
Using a similar sample of 500 office Staplers 72% 89% is changing and where it
worker respondents (250 in the UK and Shredder 70% 72% is going in the future. The
250 in the USA), the survey’s results are report is available now
analysed by country and – within each Files and binders 70% 84% for £2,950 from www.
country – by age, gender and company Base 250 340 opi.net/frogrevisited.
size, ensuring that the maximum possible
Base: 250 UK respondents. Source: MWA
value is extracted from the data.

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