Working long hours in an office can be uncomfortable.  It is inevitable that at some point, with remaining hunched over our office desks, no matter how comfortable your office chairs may feel, it is possible you will end up with acing shoulders.  Short of asking your immediate colleagues for an impromptu back, neck and shoulder massage, there are ways you can help yourself stay relaxed so you can concentrate on your work and all without leaving your office chair:

•    Roll your neck and circle your shoulders for a minute or two.  This does not have to interrupt your work, you can do it whilst on the phone
•    Tense your shoulders for a few seconds and then relax them.  Repeat this three times
•    Stand up and walk around for a minute or two when you get the chance, even if this is only to go to the bathroom or get a glass of water.  Perhaps even just whilst you are on the telephone if you are that busy!
•    Doing stretches from the back of your office chair can also help relieve a little tension

If you are still struggling, feeling tense or have aching muscles and joints after all this then re-check your office chair and desk set up to ensure you have your monitor at the right height and your forearms are at right angles to the desk surface.

In yesterday’s article, we talked about welcoming new employees to the office and gave tips on how to make the first day go well.  However, that is not the only daunting thing because the social circles and politics in an office can continue to be daunting for some time.

The complexity of office dynamics is actually rather surprising.  In fact, the world we watch on Big Brother can be similar in complexity to the average office or workplace.  By now, we should have come to expect the unexpected.  For those new employees, sometimes just trying to figure out who the big players are can be a confusing task.

For those who have lived at the same office desks for a couple of years or more, they have no doubt become accustomed to the office dynamics and can forget what it is like for a new person quivering in their office chair.  Even between departments the office dynamics can be different.  In some departments, for example, swearing may be deemed acceptable and they might be happy to swivel round on their office chairs for a chat, whilst in other departments it could be so quite you could hear a pin drop.

It is important to try and get an idea of the office dynamics before taking a new role.

Everyone remembers how awful and daunting it can be to start a new job, even if you’ve been in your current role for years.  Perhaps surprisingly, however, when a new person starts in an office it can actually be quite daunting for the existing employees too.  Existing employees are often concerned about the impact on their own role, how the office dynamics may change and whether the new person will fit in.  New employee’s common concerns include that the existing staff may be happy in their own cliques and they may not fit in.

Here are a few tips to help everyone feel settles as soon as possible:

•    For the new employee, it’s important to smile, no matter how nervous you might feel.  If you don’t smile, existing employees might find it more difficult to approach you.
•    For existing employees, make sure you speak to the new person.  Ask if they need any help or know where things are.  If you see them looking lost, ask if you can help them out.  Even if you can’t, it’s nice to know that there are friendly people sat in those big office chairs!
•    Make sure that someone shows the new employee where the important things are, i.e. toilets, kitchen, coffee machine, perhaps even ask them if they’d like to go for lunch.

In a recent article, we talked about how modern technology means we can now continue to work whilst on the move, whether we are walking around, traveling to a meeting or at a stop on the motorway.

However, that is not the only benefit to us.  In fact, as well as being able to work from almost anywhere in the world, we can also access the world from where we work, just by sitting at our office desks.
Email means we can instantly send written message to anyone, practically rendering the postal service redundant in comparison to previous decades.

Instant messaging is a variation on email that allows simple messages and pictures to be sent in real time across the miles.  Thanks to inventions such as Skype we can even get cheap or free phone calls too.

Video conferencing means we can not only talk over the miles but can view our counterparts in real time too, so we can discuss face to face without even leaving our office chair.

Thanks to technological advances such as these, not only can we work from almost anywhere without losing our effectiveness and productivity, but we really can access the world from our office desks.

There are still many people who are unsure of the difference or whether there is indeed a difference between computer desks and office desks.  Really, a computer desk is just the same as an office desk, however, designed for working on a laptop or a computer.  Many people associate a computer desk with the wooden ones generally used for home workers, where the desk has a space for a computer tower, perhaps some CD ROMs or books and a pull out keyboard tray although that is not necessarily the case.

These sorts of computer desks can feel like there is little legroom so when you set out to purchase a desk for your office, be sure that you check how much space is available in the room and how much space you will have for legroom.

Computer desks in that sense are no longer as popular and have changed a lot since their early days because computers and printers no longer need to be right next to the person at the desk itself.  Therefore, it is possible to give yourself much more room using new wireless technology or cabling.

In conclusion, there is no longer such a difference between the two sorts of office desks so you could say there is no difference at all.

Maximising productivity, efficiency and making the most of every spare minute has become almost an obsession in the office nowadays.  People cannot even travel to a meeting without working.  Laptops are being plugged in on the trains, blackberry mobiles and PDA’s are being carried everywhere so people can pick up their emails whilst being on the move and we can even messenger each other and check the internet from our mobiles.  There are more and more mobile workers so is it possible that the days of working in an office are almost at an end?

Thanks to technology it is almost unheard of for a person to sit at their office desks and not use a computer.  The first thing we do when we arrive at the office is to sit on our office chairs, switch the computer on and check our email.

So much has changed in the last ten years or so.  Typewriters and dial up internet are already more or less extinct, fax machines are rarely used nowdays and it is all about high speed broadband access and mobile phones.  Not only has our technology changes but our office furniture has changed with it.  Ergonomic office desks and office chairs have got smaller and changed shape to accommodate the computer or laptop and to allow us to spend even more time sitting comfortable on office seating for longer hours than ever before.  The question is, will we even recognize our office in another ten years?

Walking round an office and looking at the office desks of employees can reveal much about the psychology of a workplace, judging from the snacks that people eat at their office.  Particularly in small departments or in smaller companies, people have a surprising way of aligning their snack types and the sort of snack tells much about a company and its staff.

For example, biscuits are a popular snack for people to eat at their desk.  They are cheap and easy to offer round to people straight from the packet.  They are also a strong comfort food.  The sort of biscuit says a lot about the company.  If comfort biscuits such as custard creams or jammie dodgers are eaten then the company is likely to be friendly, perhaps almost to a child-like behaviour, even having minor arguments or scuffles over the biscuits.  Comfort is a theme in this sort of company, over style and fashion.

On the other hand, those who snack on fresh fruit, seeds and nuts are likely to be sporty and health conscious people.  The workforce is lean, the boss works them hard and chances are they play hard too with much socializing outside of work.  This is a trendy company, very sociable and not for those who are shy of heart.

Have you ever considered that starting a new job is a little like starting a new relationship?  You could almost call the first six months or so the ‘employee’s honeymoon period’.  First of all when they join the company they will need some sort of introduction – otherwise known as the induction to the company.  They’ll also need some new items, such as an office desk, office seating, stationery and a little time invested into them, a little like the small gifts new partners may give each other and the ‘courting’ part of the relationship.

Then we move into the honeymoon period, which is when the employee and the company get to know each other.  This is a two way thing just like a relationship when each decides if they think the other is suitable and whether the career move has been a good one for the employee and employer.

There are a number of reasons why the new employee might not work out, such as they were incorrectly matched to the role because the company either did not assess them correctly at the interview stage or because they were in a rush to recruit.  Perhaps the role has not suited the employee, may be because of the company culture fit, managerial issues such as a clash of personality or the job simply is not as they expected.  The honeymoon period is an important time and otherwise known as the probationary stage.

We recently published an article about corporate snacks and how they are a cost effective way to show your staff that you care about them, appreciate their hard work and to encourage a little extra work from them at a time when companies really need their staff behind them in order to survive the recession.

When you go to a job interview, there are a tell tale signs that can tell you quite a lot about a company.  For instance, if you can see tell tale signs of a recent meeting, perhaps you might see the cutlery, the cup you are offered your drink in at the interview or plates on the office desks as you are shown round.  This can tell you much about how the staff and customers are treated.

For example, paper doilies or rich tea biscuits can tell you a company is quite traditional and therefore serious and thorough.  This sort of company generally expects its staff to be suited and booted.  Foil wrapped biscuits on the other hand can mean quite a fashion conscious company, serious about its image.
You can tell quite a lot from the snacks a company provides!

The office has long been known as quite a pressured place to work at times, especially when one works in a place where deadlines can be tight and the working hours can be long.  The credit crunch has certainly not helped in the matter with many employers now expecting much more productivity for the same pay from each member of staff.

Thanks to this pressure, many people do some irrational things in the office that we would never do elsewhere, so read on and see how many of these you recognise from people in your office or even yourself:

•    Nobody in the office is wrong about anything
•    People openly voice their hatred of other members of staff or senior management
•    Certain favoured people seem to have better office furniture than anyone else
•    The broken office chairs always seem to move mysteriously after work to the unpopular person in the office
•    Departments are divided into personality, so the IT nerds stay hidden and quiet behind their office desks whilst the sales staff are the loudest
•    Office politics and office gossip goes on everywhere and someone is always having an affair with someone else