Paper and ink documents require a huge amount of resources and energy, as opposed to their digitalised counterparts which can be created, stored and accessed with zero paper or chemicals. Even though ink printers are common, they are worse for the environment than many realise. Read more and discover the true environmental cost of paper and ink printing.

Ink

When it comes to inks, especially litho inks, there are some main areas of concern - the first is heavy metals. Certain pigments contain copper, zinc and barium which can be hazardous to the environment and workers’ health. In general metallic and fluorescent inks can be toxic. Metallic inks do not decompose easily and the heavy metal elements cause problems by seeping into groundwater and other natural areas. Petroleum based inks emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as they dry. Dangerous to humans and a contributor to global warming, this comes from web based printing such as heatset.

Soya can typically be found in oil, sheet-fed inks. Normally made up of two parts linseed, one part Soya, such inks reduce worker and environmental hazards due to being vegetable oil based. However, the expansion of the Soya industry is something that is controversial in itself. Waste ink can be recycled and made into low grade fuel, or mixed to form black ink and reused. However ink is toxic, so much so it is usually put in concrete in special hazardous waste landfill sites.

Paper

Everywhere we go, there is paper. From newspapers to magazines, billboards and posters – it is unavoidable. However, paper has more of an impact upon the environment than many would believe.

Over 30 million acres of forest is destroyed annually with 40% of the world’s commercially cut timber used for paper production. Pulpwood plantations and mills also endanger and destroy natural habitats of species that live in these forests.

The entire lifecycle of paper is environmentally damaging. Starting with a tree being cut down and ending in being burnt, which emits carbon dioxide. When it decomposes in a landfill it also emits the greenhouse gas methane.

Digitisation

Switching to a paperless office, by digitalising all physical paper documents, businesses can save money and contribute to a healthier environment. With 10 million tonnes of paper used per year, digital operations not only drastically reduce this figure, it also allows for increased productivity and a boost in staff morale – with less time spent on menial tasks such as searching for documents.

Switching to digital operations can help companies struggling for office space. Paperless offices also make it easier to increase operations, with online document services allowing quick and easy access to scanned items.

Did you know how much paper and ink can affect the environment? Are you now considering joining the paperless revolution? Continue reading about paperless office solutions.

Many companies are customer focused, and as such customer feedback surveys are automatically used regularly to improve services and customer satisfaction. But how often do businesses consider the satisfaction of its workforce?

Keeping employees happy is just as important as ensuring customer or client satisfaction. After all, your staff are the face of the business and if they are unhappy in their work, it will often be apparent to customers.

Anonymous employee surveys can provide an invaluable insight into the thoughts, experiences and opinions of staff. Staff members will feel more comfortable being truthful in a survey or questionnaire than face to face with managers. Asking for their suggestions on how to improve the employee and customer experience is also beneficial for employers. Below we’ve listed just some of the advantages of conducting employee surveys.

From receiving the feedback forms from your staff and employees, see how you can digital capture and efficiently manage that information through form scanning services.

Increase morale and productivity

Just by making the effort to ask employees for their opinions and giving them an opportunity to voice their concerns can have a positive effect on the workforce. By conducting a satisfaction survey, employee motivation, dedication and morale will increase. Conducting a staff survey makes employees feel valued as a person, and flattered that management or the owners of the company are asking for their help in improving business operations.

There are plenty of effective ways of increasing staff moral and boosting productivity in the office departments. Working with digital documents and management systems is just one of them.

Uncover issues you aren’t aware of

While some employees are quick to report any issues or concerns regarding other members of staff or difficult working procedures, many will try and deal with problems themselves. Whether they are shy or don’t want to appear to be causing trouble, many employees feel uncomfortable making suggestions to management in person. Giving staff an outlet to tell management about any issues anonymously is a vital tool for finding out what’s really going on within the business. There might be problems arising that you would have never found out about unless you conducted an employee survey. Gain honest, truthful opinions about the company as a whole and how happy staff are in their job roles.

Decrease staff turnover – save time and money

Companies who make an effort to keep their staff happy are more likely to keep their employees for a longer period of time. However, it’s important after doing the employee survey that actions are taken so staff don’t feel as though their views are ignored. If suggestions are taken on board, employee satisfaction will increase and workers are less likely to look for work elsewhere.

Improve your business

Once you have collected and processed the data from the employee survey, you have an invaluable business tool. You will be in possession of a large number of opinions and suggestions from the very people who run and understand the company. They might suggest things you haven’t thought of yourself which could improve efficiency and productivity. Ultimately, taking suggestions on board from your staff will have an impact on your products or services for customers. Happy employees = happy customers!

Are you thinking about conducting an employee survey? Speak to the team at Pearl Scan to make the data capture process simple and efficient.

Many organisations across all industries can benefit from going paperless – and the government has already highlighted the National Health Service as one such organisation. The NHS has a target to digitalise patient records and become completely paperless, which will reduce time spent on administrative tasks and hopefully improve patient care. NHS Trusts are already expected to have patient records online, but health secretary Jeremy Hunt has challenged the NHS to become a paperless operation by 2018.

This move to roll out paperless operations has already started, with some NHS Trusts and GP practices taking the plunge and making the digital switch. The first NHS Trust to go paperless a few years ago was St Helens & Knowsley, and now other across the UK are on a paperless trail. In one GP practice in the area, moving to a digital database has freed up 20 square metres of space and freed up staff who had to spend two to three hours manually searching records for referral letters and other records. Dr David Wilson predicts digitalising all 11,000 records has reduced admin costs by one person a day each week.

With such positive reports from professionals who have made the paperless switch, many other NHS trusts are following suit well ahead of the 2018 deadline. One of the most recent areas to implement the digital strategy is Royal Free London NHS Trust, which treats around 700,000 patients each year. All paper care records are being transferred to digital, so staff can have instant access to records and patient information.

Will Smart, Director of information management and technology at the Royal Free said, "For a complex hospital environment like ours, managing patient care using paper case-notes has been logistically very challenging. Tracking and moving paper case notes across a large physical estate has made it difficult to ensure that these are available where and when they are needed and has required a large administrative team.

"By digitising these case-notes we have the opportunity to improve the quality of the services we provide whilst reducing costs, and believe the new platform will enable us to digitise other paper-based corporate records and drive further efficiencies.”

The NHS obviously has an obligation to keep patient records and log all communication with patients for compliance. Medical record scanning services and electrical storage is more efficient and cost effective for private and NHS hospitals, doctor’s surgeries, dentists and medical trusts. A digital archive system can securely store case notes, information and event digitised X-rays, while reducing admin costs. For more information about how medical record scanning can improve your healthcare practice and reach digitalisation targets, get in touch.