Educate Staff to Reduce Print Costs

Reducing your printing costs can actually be easier than you think. Getting the most efficient device you can is obviously important, as is judging whether using separate devices or investing in a Multifunction Printer (MFP) is the most cost effective option. There is also Print Management Software that you can utilise to analyse your usage and incorporate print quotas into your organisation.

As significant as all these tools are in terms of waste reduction, it is equally important to address the basics and educate staff as to exactly what damage they are causing to both the environment and your company’s spend through waste, or when they refuse to take responsibility for their own print usage.

By introducing a culture of accountability among your staff you are able to make sure that only what is truly important is printed. By teaching and encouraging staff to incorporate certain actions into their routine you can help stop wastage at its source, with the additions of Print Management Software and efficient devices complementing what is already an effective system in house.

Educate staff. Some of the simple techniques that can make a huge difference include:

Duplex Printing – Some machines will set double-sided printing as standard, whereas others need to have their settings changed. Make it very clear to your staff that they can hugely reduce the amount of paper they use by double siding their pages.

Reuse Waste Paper – If they have printed on a single side of paper but no longer need the document then instead of throwing it away place it into a designated waste paper box next to the printer. That way the next person who needs a single side can reuse the document themselves.

Print in Grayscale – For less important or internal documents there is no need to print in colour. If using a full colour machine then manually changing to black and white can help reduce vast amounts of ink and toner.

Cloud Sharing – Encouraging your staff to share documents with one another through a cloud sharing platform helps them keep information circulating but digital. If you haven’t invested in software that helps with this, then free services such as Dropbox and OneDrive can be useful.

Margin and Font Settings – Again what can seem like a minimal change can make a huge difference when looking at the big picture. There are certain ink conservative fonts that can be used, as well as margin settings that, if printing large quantities, can save a great deal of paper.

Being able to introduce these measures and then make sure that people stick to them is the first step towards a more efficient office. Once these basics are in place you can look at the machines you are using and Print Management Software safe in the knowledge that they are being used responsibly and that you have the budget to do so.

For more tips on keeping your staff motivated to reduce their waste, or to find out any more about the printers and software that EBM supply, simply call us on 01376 512575.