Update: The Label Maker

Label Making has been really effective in keeping tabs on things, and it is also very gratifying. Our label maker cost about $34, and the reels of label tape cost about $12. This was because we use a particular stationery company, rather than because this is a great deal. Even though it means getting another "thing" in the office, another use of resources-- financial and environmental-- I think it was really essential for being more effective and less wasteful in the long term. It makes filing quick, easy, and fun.

Beginning to think about recycling has been slower than I expected, because I do it when I'm not doing anything else at work.

In thinking environmentally, my observation is that once a paper is printed, as things are now, it will not be recycled. It may just sit around the office and cause more paper to be printed if it does not have a clear place or is shredded immediately. The trick is to make finding the paper easier than printing a new copy, particularly for the busiest people in your office.

I haven't been playing environmental music in the office or putting off the lights while my coworkers are on the phone-- it's much harder to persuade people that taking good, conservative care of resources is as important in the office as at home. It's hard for me personally because I'm not interested in taking paper home to recycle, etc. Admitting that makes it easier to just throw away stuff that doesn't seem important to our day-to-day functioning.

I try to remember that I am wasteful in other parts of my life, so it's not a matter of making someone guilty for their priorities. It's not even a matter of educatiing my coworkers. It's a matter of figuring out together what is possible and practical in the context of our office, and pushing very slowly in one direction.

The Office and Long-Term Change

I work in a very small non-profit organization with a relatively high number of part-time employees (myself included), and I've been thinking about how to make the office function more smoothly, as I sometimes have an administrative role, or just a free couple of hours. For those of you in small offices, I'd be really interested to hear about how you work to make the office a simpler place.

I think one major challenge is that we work primarily with people-- rather than ideas, things, numbers or words-- and so our major tools are our voices, our language skills, and our connections to communities and state agencies. Unfortunately, although we work mainly with people we have to somehow convey what we do to funders, and keep tabs on what we do.

Thus one main reason I think this is important is that streamlining-- having a simple, accessible filing system, simple e-mail, and standardized labelling system would help people who are new to the office, and help people who are just around for a short time better slot in and be useful. And I think it would also significantly reduce waste if we could link our computers together and have access to electronic files rather than having to print out all the time. The challenge is everyone really needs to be on board with anything new, and so change has to be gradual to be sustainable.

Simplifying the office should not be about looking good or about being part of a trend, but about what works in a particular context so that people can do the job that matters most well. I've been struggling to figure out what exactly this means in the context of our NGO. So, I will let you know how introducing recycling to the office goes.

The first two steps I'm beginning with are standardizing our labelling of files (I bought a label maker today!) and learning how to recycle paper. That's my goal for January. In February I'd like to think more about computers. I know that most offices have really simple networking systems, and I'd like to learn more. It seems so basic but if you're in an office that doesn't use a lot of e-mail communication or filesharing, it is pretty daunting.