New study finds quarter of employees use the office printer while job-seeking. Plane tickets and personal emails have topped a list of the most inappropriate items employees admitted to printing at work, a new study has found.
Shockingly, CVs and job applications for roles at different companies are common, with one in five saying they’ve printed their job application and a quarter printing a CV.
More than one in ten employees (13 percent) take this bold approach a step further by printing off interview tasks. The study, by office suppliers Viking, suggests printing personal documents at work could be hitting businesses hard in the pocket. The average employee prints these kind of non-work items more than once (1.13) every week.
Employees in Newcastle (1.55 times a week) are the worst offenders, followed by Bristol (1.46) and London (1.37), whilst Liverpool has the most honest workers (0.72). There appears to be little remorse either with respondents admitting that they ‘print anything they can get away with’, and ‘anything that is personal without asking permission first’.
The study also found that personal photos were the items voted the least appropriate to be printed at work (53 percent), followed closely by bank statements (40 percent) and documents for family members (44 percent).
Ruud Linders of Viking Europe, said: “It’s an unavoidable fact that people are going to print personal items at work, so we thought it was the perfect chance to encourage employees everywhere to get into the charitable spirit.” “Motivating people to donate when they (mis)use their office printer keeps people from feeling guilty and can easily raise a good amount of money. They pay for their printing, and the money can go towards a good cause, whether it’s a company-nominated charity or just replacing the office’s ink!”
