Banner Blog

Employers are legally required to protect employees from stress at work

This requirement covers all organisations, with those employing more than five people expected to produce a written risk assessment to help prevent stress related issues from arising in the first place. 

With 15.4 million days taken off work for work-related stress, depression and anxiety in 2017/18, according to the Labour Force Survey, mental health war responsible for more lost working days than any other single health issue.

Work related stress sees people take an average of 15.8 days each off work, which makes it important for employers to not only improve the support they offer, but also put in place preventive measures.

According to the HSE, the six main areas that can lead to work-related stress are demands, control, support, relationships, role and change.

September sees the start of Vascular Awareness Month and we’re looking at how your workspace can help keep you in good health.

Fellowes have put together some tips to help you create a healthy workspace, starting with your workspace layout.  It’s recommended that you fit it around yourself rather than you fit to the space. Using a workstation solution helps to reduce risk of workplace strain or injury. The 4 Zone Approach from Fellowes is designed to help demonstrate how to adapt your workspace, focusing on your needs, with the aim to improve health and comfort at work and overall productivity.

Helping our customers make more sustainable choices is one of our big missions at Banner.

From supporting organisations as they seek eco-friendlier products to helping calculate potential reductions in CO² emissions, water and energy use, we know every little step can make a difference.

But we also know achieving sustainability doesn’t always seem easy. In one survey* of 300 companies, only 2% were able to ‘achieve or exceed the sustainability expectations that were set’, and 81% of businesses ‘settled for the dilution of value and mediocre sustainability performance’.

The number of people working from home has grown steadily over the last decade, with at least 1.5 million of us now cutting out the commute to the office.

The increase flexibility can bring a range of advantages, both for employers and employees, including better work-life balance, reduce travel time, higher motivation and savings in office space costs.

Out of sight isn't out of mind though, as employers have the same responsibility for the health and wellbeing of a home-based employee as they do for someone in the office.

Here are some ways a home worker can be supported:

Make a sustainable impact with the HP Planet Partners Programme. 

There are more opportunities now than ever before to make a difference when it comes to making a sustainable impact when purchasing printing supplies.

HP are leading the way when it comes to being sustainability heroes, thanks to their HP Planet Partners programme and closed-loop recycling scheme.

By choosing Original HP printing supplies, you are making a strong environmental choice when it comes to protecting some of the world's essential resources.

Take a look at some of the statistics behind HP's recent sustainability effort:

Come and say hi, we're on stand 51

Our team of workplace experts will be at COUP 2019, on stand 51, to help you discover our complete range of workplace solutions for your organisation; including stationery, technology, cleaning, janitorial and catering supplies and promotional merchandise.

Collaboration leads to a more engaged and innovative workforce, however it's still not a priority within a lot of companies today.  

Getting everyone involved with decision making can help projects to run more efficiently and creates a workforce full of team players. Working collaboratively creates a buzz within the office and a culture of staff who enjoy coming to work, leading to a more productive team. Collaboration is a process which involves everyone sharing their individual knowledge, utilising their own skills and experience as well as those of the rest of the team leading to a better project outcome.

Most of us may want to work smartly but this isn't always easy.

From emails pinging on our smartphones late at night, to being asked to attend a meeting two hours' drive away, events can often conspire to overwhelm us.

In an age when we're all easily contactable it can feel impossible to break away, finding hacks to a more productive working day is all the more important.

Here are five tips to make every day a better one:

For charging imaginations, improving creativity and feeling more prepared for the working day, getting your workspace in order is a must.

An organised workplace is an easier one to spend time in. It can help everyone feel more comfortable, find what they need and focus on their work.

However, the right equipment is the vital first step. Without it, we're likely to face mess every morning, struggle to find things and our productivity will be affected.

Here are just four assets that can transform any workspace:

We have been putting our environmental and community values into action at one of the UK's busiest beaches.

Over 60 of our people plus family members and friends took part in the first-ever Banner Beach Clean at Scarborough's South Bay. It was fabulous effort by all involved, the teams worked up and down the beach and the surrounding area and collected over 28 kgs of plastic, glass and assorted waste from the North Yorkshire beauty spot.

This was a great way to put our commitment to local communities and the natural environment into action, with the beach clean running from 11am in the morning until 3pm in the afternoon.