Centralized Office Copier/Printers Replace Water Coolers As Place To Chat And As Sources Of Productivity Loss

New survey from Brother International Corporation reveals that companies with centralized copier/printers can waste thousands of hours a year.

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Brother International Corporation

Oct 21, 2014, 09:00 ET

BRIDGEWATER, N.J., Oct. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Brother International Corporation, a multi-billion dollar leader in technology for offices of all sizes, today released a survey that revealed using a centralized copier/printer can significantly curtail productivity in the workplace and dramatically affect employee behavior.

Compared with offices that have a greater number of shared printers, employees at offices with centralized copier/printers spend, on average, an additional three minutes each day on printing. Over the course of a year, this means an extra 13 hours spent at the printer. For a company of 500 employees, this could translate to 6,500 wasted hours.

Centralized Copier/Printers Lead to Distractions

Waiting in the printing queue, walking a long distance to a printer and distraction by other people while walking to or waiting for the printer can all lead to distracted employees and lowered productivity in the workplace. In fact, 61 percent of employees surveyed stated that they have conversations at the copier/printer and that they are four times more likely to always engage in conversations compared with just 31 percent who have conversations at the water cooler.

In addition, those who engage in non-work conversations at the printer are 98 percent more likely to stop by other colleagues' desks to chat about personal things, but only 28 percent more likely to chat about work. And they are 42 percent more likely to get intercepted by those wanting to chat as well.

Using centralized printers has an impact on printing behaviors as well. The survey also revealed that those that use centralized copier/printers are more likely to minimize printing because walking the distance to pick up is inconvenient. They are also more likely than those not using a centralized printer to forget to pick up documents after sending them and attempt to attend meetings without hard copies of documents.

"As print volumes change, we know that many small- to medium-sized businesses may be underusing their copier/printers and have placed them ineffectively leading to cost and productivity implications," said Dan Waldinger, Director of Services and Solutions Marketing at Brother. "Our survey findings further demonstrate how ineffective placement can promote behaviors that may ultimately lead to significant productivity loss. This strengthens the Brother balanced deployment solution, which helps SMBs optimize their printing environments for better productivity and cost savings."

The Solution for SMBs: Don't Supersize. Optimize.

Surveyed employees with printers located within their own departments were far less likely to lose productivity, and they were 36 percent more likely to engage in mostly work-related conversations while waiting for a print job to finish compared to those who also have printers outside their department.

More than half of all employees surveyed want their company to replace centralized copier/printers with more efficient devices for more user-friendly printing. And at 48.5%, nearly half of those with centralized printing would prefer a shorter distance between their desk and the copier/printer/scanner.

The survey also revealed that workers with more shared printers are more digitally engaged. More of them say that their companies encourage the use of digital documents, use multiple screens, find reading on screen easier, use more mobile devices than they used to and are more environmentally conscious. Those that have centralized printers are more than two times more likely to say that their company printers do not work well and that they take too long to finish printing jobs.

Brother has found SMBs can help boost productivity by placing devices closer to workgroups through an approach called balanced deployment. SMBs can also help reduce costs and eliminate potential distractions by identifying the right printer to fit their departmental print requirements. The "Don't Supersize. Optimize." initiative encourages SMBs to evaluate their printing environment, using an online self-assessment tool found at www.dontsupersizeoptimize.com.

About Brother
Brother International Corporation is a premier provider of products and solutions for businesses of all sizes, including an award-winning line of printers and all-in-ones, as well as video conferencing and document management solutions. Brother is also a leader in electronic labeling and provides the number one line of facsimile machines in the U.S. The U.S. corporate office in Bridgewater, N. J. was established on April 21, 1954 and currently markets many industrial products, home appliances and business products manufactured by its parent company, Brother Industries, Ltd. of Nagoya, Japan. For more information, visit www.brother.com.

Research Methodology
Research conducted by independent research company Clarus Research Group (http://qorvis.com/clarus-research-group) between September 5^th and 11^th 2014. Sample size is N=1,000, aged 18 – 64, working full time in an office, more than 10 people in the office, using shared printers. In some instances, results have been rounded to the nearest tenth of a percentage point.

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SOURCE Brother International Corporation