Nearly Half of Welsh Office Workers Cheekily Apply for New Jobs While at Work

Nearly HALF of office workers in Wales (47 per cent) print off their CV right under the noses of their boss using the office printer while job hunting – and sometimes, there’s an unexpected pay off!

It’s not just once or twice – with more than one in four (29 per cent) Welsh office workers revealing they frequently use the office printer when looking for a new job, but while one in three (30 per cent) have been caught out for printer mis-use – a sixth (16 per cent) said getting caught printing off their CV or a new job application led to a pay rise.

The survey by printer firm Cartridge Save revealed half of office workers (54 per cent) around the UK use their employer’s printer ink because they don’t own a printer.
After CVs, the most common item for printer misuse was for travel tickets – with 45 per cent admitting they use an office printer for holiday admin.

In a survey of 2,500 office workers, data reveals a quarter (24 per cent) of those printing out their work records do so during a lunch break – while a sneaky one in ten (11 per cent) of us leave printer misuse until the boss is in a meeting.

After it emerged two thirds of Brits cite looking for a new job as a New Year’s resolution for 2020, Cartridge Save surveyed office workers around the UK asking just what they use their work printer for.

And while most (54 per cent) don’t own printers so use their office one for convenience – almost one in five (18 per cent) said they do so to get back at their boss.
And it could be a daily occurrence – with 38 per cent of office workers admitting they print personal items off up to FIVE times a week.

Common items printed off in office time – and at a cost to their employers – are gig tickets (42 per cent) interview documents (38 per cent) and photographs (16 per cent).
Cartridge Save estimates that on average this kind of personal use of printers could cost employers £85 per person per year.

Multiplied by an average of 50 employees for a medium-sized business could cost upwards of £4,250.

And third (35 per cent) said they had been reprimanded or fired by bosses for printer misuse.

In the survey of office workers around the UK many revealed a series of mishaps that would put anyone off.

Several claimed they had caught a colleague or boss photocopying body parts, whilst another said he had caught a peer printing off an erotic novel.
Ian Cowley, MD of Cartridge Save said:

“It has been an unwritten rule in lots of businesses for a number of years now that employees use the printer. Most bosses do tend to turn a blind eye – but it is worth adding up that cost to the business. It could equate to staff bonuses, a pay rise or an office social. Equally it is easy to see why office workers do take advantage of the office printer – it’s convenient and obviously not at a cost to them.”