The campaigns for and against an Officexit centre themselves around the key issues of practicality, efficiency and communication. In the Officexit camp, there are the workers and management progressives, and in the Office Remain camp, the traditionalists and business owners.

Despite what you may think, leaders and managers are different beasts; they have distinctively different jobs, but equally important roles to play. The former makes sure the company succeeds by inspiring and well, leading, staff. The latter makes sure that the performance is kept at acceptable levels.

We normally do not think that how we behave in the office could impact the environment, yet there are plenty of wasteful habits that we exercise when at work. Anything from not using recycled paper to wasting plastic cups or office supplies are classic examples of how our habits are less than environmentally friendly.

Let’s set the scene. You’ve just been made project manager, it’s an exciting new challenge. You’ll be responsible for meeting important deadlines, training your team on the new online collaboration tools, and maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction.

Hard to explain, soft value and not something you can add to a spreadsheet: company culture, this all-encompassing “feeling” of a workplace or organisation. It can be how to behave, how things are done, customer care, and a myriad of other factors and definitions.

Have you ever had the experience of not being able to get the information you need because it was locked up in a filing cabinet in another office? Or the knowledge disappeared with Fred, when he left the company? Or it’s on a system in another country, where the office is now closed? If so, you will already know the value of having the right information available at the right time.

For any SME, the decision over whether to use cloud software or install an in-house server is a big one. The difference in cost could be significant, it could have a large bearing on how efficient a number of operations are, and there are other areas, such as speed and security, that could be seriously affected one way or the other.

Collaboration software and sleep – two concepts that you rarely see together in the same sentence. But the nature of your free time will definitely have an impact on your work performance, and sleep is one of the areas where many people suffer. 

I’ve found this week rather frustrating. A group of us have been struggling to produce an agreed statement paper for an important aspect of technical development. Our group consists of members belonging to several, external organisations. We’ve been using email to collaborate but it’s become a major headache.

It is estimated that we started domesticating animals to keep as pets over 20,000 years ago, and ever since then dogs and cats have been trusted companions in many of our lives. But nowadays, as we increasingly spend long hours at the office, our beloved pets may be suffering at home.