Press Releases

TV’s nightmare boss, David Brent from The Office, has a job for life despite recent redundancy threats reveals a new report published today. The report shows that paper, Brent’s chosen profession, is here to stay despite the introduction of technology aimed at creating the paperless office. 

The report, entitled ‘In Paper We Trust’, was commissioned by printer manufacturer Lexmark to explore the reasons why experts are predicting UK businesses will use up to 20% more paper every year.  Lexmark worked with leading academics from the European School of Management (Paris) and the Department of Psychology at the University of Hull (UK) and discovered three key reasons why David Brent will never have any job worries.  

Business practice

Many businesses state their intention to move towards a 'paperless office' but most fail because of

Legal requirements force companies to retain printed copies of all business documents for many years. 

Risk avoidance – countries with a culture of ‘Uncertainty Avoidance’ such as Spain, Italy and France tend to use more paper as there is a requirement for all business transactions to be carried out in great detail to avoid mistakes.

There is also a certain resistance to change on the part of senior management.

Human psychology
Humans' have a natural preference for paper over less tangible media such as electronic documents due to the fact it is a physical, tangible medium:

Haptic perception - the importance of touch in human understanding of the world around them – people feel less comfortable with electronic documents as they cannot touch them.

Object permanence - a paper document 'feels' more permanent than an electronic file.  Electronic media may be associated with an inaccurate perception of the risks of data loss.

Human development and memory – At school official communications are typically delivered in the form of letters, therefore we learn to respect written communication on paper. 

Technology

No potential paper replacement offers the permanence, zero power consumption, low cost and accessibility of paper. 

Compatibility - paper has existed for thousands of years and is the dominant technology in its sector – any replacement has to maintain compatibility with it. 

Education - everyone knows how to use paper but only a minority have been educated to use electronic equipment.

More importantly many new technologies increase the use of paper in business environments, e.g. paper volume rises by 40% whenever email is introduced into an office* as people print off emails to read.

Paper is undoubtedly here to stay as there is no potential replacement for paper that combines all of its business, psychological and technological benefits.

However Lexmark’s report concludes that despite the continued growth in paper use, there is scope for paper reduction in the longer term thanks to new technology such as Electronic Document Management (EDMS) technology such as Lexmark’s Document Distributor.  EDMS reduces costs by turning the conventional approach to printing on its head and encouraging more intelligent printing.  Documents are kept in electronic format for as long as possible and instead of printing and then distributing documents, EDMS allows companies to distribute and then print, therefore saving on transport costs and printing costs for copies that are not needed. 

Jane Cronin, SMB Director, Lexmark UK comments: “The report shows that contrary to popular belief we are not nearing the advent of the paperless office.  In fact the increased use of electronic media actually fuels the consumption of paper by businesses - a trend that is set to continue.  It looks like David Brent is safe in his job forever!”