Saving costs in the office can be a difficult task when you want to get high quality tech and furnishings. However, buying the best can mean a big chunk out of your budget and often your expensive buys can be wasteful. Do you really need to buy an executive chair or can you find another high quality and cheaper alternative? You can still get the perfect office without over spending. Here is what you need to consider to help save costs in the office.
1. Do your research
We understand it can take a lot of time to sit at a computer and research different types and prices of office furniture.
If you’re moving office, it’s always important to do your research and compare prices and quality. As it can take a long time to move office (find out how long it takes), you’ve got the time to do proper research to find the best prices. Use your time effectively to find bargains.
2. Get what you need, not what you want
One of the biggest expenses to a business can be buying premium technology and furniture. Sometimes employees might actually need the tech but sometimes you need to question, will the business benefit from the purchase or is it just a luxury item?
When buying an expensive product or new technology, the price tag needs to be worth it. If employees need a new copier, question how often they will be using it. If they only need to use the copier once a week, then a £2500 copier isn’t needed.
3. Consider buying second hand
The thought of buying second hand furniture and appliances can make some bosses scoff. But did you know, buying second hand can save you up to 70% instead of buying brand new. See if your boss scoffs when you give them that financial fact!
Of course, there can be cons to buying second hand, there’s no return policy and there can be hidden problems. If you do your research and check the items thoroughly before you buy, you can save costs in the office and get a bargain!
4. Don’t throw away what isn’t broken
Many offices throw away their old furniture when they buy new replacements. However instead of following your gut reaction to take everything to the rubbish dump, you can instead:
- Find another place for it. Old desks can be moved to offer additional working areas or they can be used as storage for important documents.
- Sell it. Unless it’s falling apart, you could sell your old furniture (on sites like eBay or Amazon, there’s many more out there!) and this way you can get some extra coin back into the office’s piggy bank.
5. Consider before you buy
Does the office really need a high gloss printer or iPad tablets for every employee? Getting perks can be beneficial for office morale but they can also be a major expenses the company doesn’t really need.
Before you buy that £4000 multipurpose printer, consider if the business will benefit from all the printer’s functions or if they can do well enough with the £900 printer that scans and copies just as well as the other printer.
6. Go digital
As cloud computing for businesses catches on, it’s helping some businesses reduce the amount of paper they use, whilst increasing collaboration and flexible working arrangements.
You can save money in the office by going digital instead of paper:
- Instead of mailing letters to clients, use email
- Use a shared drive
- Use tablets in meetings rather than printing
- Email handouts to employees
- Encourage employees to use email and USBs to transfer documents
7. Don’t standby, turn off
Businesses can save at least £1000 a year by turning off electrical appliances and computers, rather than leaving them on over night. This might sound like saving pennies for a large organization but if a business has over two hundred employees, imagine the cost of keeping the computers on overnight. Most employees work 8 hours, so that’s 16 hours of electricity, computers are wasting by being left on.
8. Minimise inventory
Each employee should have access to office supplies like new pens, post-it notes, staples, etc. Whilst you might be responsible for making sure the inventory remains full and available for employees, you can save costs in the office by buying cheaper and less stationery. Whilst you don’t want to sacrifice quality for quantity, search online and read reviews to see what stationery is better value for money. It might be cheaper to buy online rather than buying from the premium stationery shop around the corner.
It can be quite daunting when your manager or boss wants to buy the absolute best for the office. But it’s likely they aren’t looking at the price tag but at the end appearance of their office design. Discuss a budget before and fill out a spreadsheet as you go along so you can inform your boss if they are pushing the limits of their monthly budget. They’ll appreciate your thoroughness and attempts to save their business money.
Business owners are creating modern offices that can help save them money. Download our FREE eBook to see the new and cost effective ways of working in the 21st century.
Do you have any advice on how to save costs in the office? Share them below.