Office Equitment And Supplies

 

1.	Standardizing equipment. The principle of standardization should, as far as possible, be applied to all pieces of equipment in the office. . Uniformity in material and design of desks, chairs, tables, filing equipment and bookcases is desirable, by reason of the better appearance and greater interchangeability of the articles.
2.	The modern desk. One important piece of office equipment is the modern desk. The type of desk construction has become more and more simple. Ornamentation is omitted in the attempt to increase efficiency and remove the opportunity for dust to accumulate. The older type of desk, boarded from the floor to the top, is giving way to the sanitary type which stands upon four legs. In cities like New York where rent is high and floor space valuable, the older type of desk with drawers to the floor is often favored on account of the extra room which it affords.   The quality of material in office equipment has steadily become better, for several reasons. In the first place, cheap office equipment does not last. Again, the appearance of the office and the impression which it makes upon customers is determined largely by the type of office equipment. Lastly, it is not to be doubted that the appearance of the office and the quality of the office equipment has a definite psychological effect upon the character of work done by the office employes.
3.	The roll top, The old roll top desk is going out of use. Its pigeon holes were only too convenient places for stuffing papers that should have been placed in files. In the readiness with which the rolltop desk may be closed at night and made to present an appearance of order lurks a temptation not to finish the day's business and clear the desk each night. In addition to its other disadvantages, the roll-top desk by reason of its high back deprives the office manager of an unobstructed view of the men under his supervision. It also shuts out a certain amount of light from the room.

4.	The "efjficiency desk."The desk of a clerk or stenographer should have no more drawer room than is necessary to contain the necessary supplies. It should have no space for storing books that should be in the library, folders that should be in the files,   paper or envelops in excess of current needs. Many firms have evolved or adopted certain types of desks built along these lines. For example, the Equitable Life Assurance Society has what is called its "efiiciency desk," which it thus describes :   The Equitable Efficiency Desk is perhaps the last word in office furniture. It is fifty inches long by thirty inches wide, with linoleum top and aluminum shoe and bevel edge binding. It is of quartered oak construction, dull finish, containing three drawers, the center providing compartments for working materials such as clips, pins, elastic bands and pencils. The side drawers contain an adjustable compartment for letter paper, pads, and stock forms, set slantingly for compactness and accessibility.   One of the advantages of the desk is that clerks cannot stow away in it papers which later will be overlooked. With it a clerk works with greater expedition, and there being no room for placing current work in the desk, the tendency to defer until tomorrow what can be done today is almost entirely eliminated. The drawers in the "Equitable Efficiency Desk" are so narrow that the desk looks much like a table.
5.	Special type desks. There are various special type desks or "service desks." The commonest example is the typewriter desk. Where the typist also has clerical work to perform, the typewriter is fastened to a disappearing tray, the top closing and providing a smooth surface for writing. Where the typewriter is little used, a simple typewriter stand may take the place of a special type desk.   For the sake of clerks who regularly have to handle large numbers of card records, the "tub" desk was in troduoed. The clerk sits between two "tubs," connected by a small writing surface. The tubs consist of parallel compartments containing index cards, address cards, ledger accounts (if the ledger accounts are kept on cards ) , etc. Any card in a group of over ten thousand is within arm's reach of the clerk. Over the top of these compartments are sliding panels, so that any compartment can immediately be uncovered. The covered compartments provide additional writing space.
6.	Light for desks. The lighting arrangements should give the desks ample daylight. The light should fall upon the desk from the side or the rear, the ideal being that it shall come over the left shoulder of the operator.
7.	Office tables. Office tables are used for a variety of purposes, such as sorting mail, carrying equipment and serving clerks who perform routine clerical tasks. They are also used at board or committee meetings. In the executive's office the table often serves as a place for storing or displaying books, maps or large papers, or as an overflow space upon which to work when his desk is full. If a visitor is seated by such a table, the executive can turn and talk to him without needlessly exposing confidential papers that may lie open upon his desk

8.

Office chairs. It is evidently worth while to give some thought to the selection of chairs for employes, for in them they are working seven or eight hours every day. Typists and stenographers should be supplied with the special chairs designed for them in which the height and the angle of the back are adjustable. In the case of chairs not adjustable, the use of leather cushions or foot stools often gives added comfort and promotes greater efficiency. Many offices are without sufficient chairs, not only for visitors, but even for their employes. It is generally desirable to have a chair for each desk or table, even tho it be not continually occupied.

9.

Desk equipment. Certain features of modern desk equipment not in common use are worth mentioning. Many executives have plate-glass tops which cover part or all of their desk surface. Beneath this top can be put charts, timetables, telephone numbers, engagement lists, and any other material that it is desirable to keep in view. The desk top may thus at the same time be made to serve as a visible tickler file and a working space. Glass tops are easy to keep clean and they look well. Two work trays carry papers "In" and "Out" respectively ; that is, work which the desk owner receives from someone else, and work which he has finished and which is ready for the office boy to take away. No one who is doing more than routine tasks should be without a calendar and an engagement memorandum. The loose leaf calendar combines these features. Fountain pens are frequently supphed to clerks who have a great deal of writing to do ; sometimes separate fountain pens for different colored inks. Observation indicates when this is desirable.

10.

Standardizing desk equipment.  For those who are engaged in the same kind of work, both the surface of the desk and the arrangement and contents of the drawers can be standardized. The standardized drawer arrangement of the Equitable Efficiency Desk has already been described (page 31). One organization has standardized both the arrangement and the contents of the desk drawers in many of its departments. The following outline is taken from its departmental manual and shows how the Billing Department desks are planned : Center drawer: Signal clips Rule Memo pads Pens Pencils Pins Eraser   Top right hand drawer : 1st compartment : Cards for tomorrow's billing Daily reports and time sheets   2nd compartment : Attorney report blanks Special draft blanks   3rd compartment : Cards and memoranda for drafts and attorney reports Requisition slips Naturally, standardization of this type is only practicable where the departments are large enough and where the work it self is of a comparatively standardized and simple form. If employes are left to themselves, each fits up his desk as he chooses. There must be some "one best way." That way should be found and standardized.

11.	The file drawer. There are a number of variations in the layout of desks, and one can obtain from standard manufacturers a desk to suit almost any need. A favorite arrangement for executives is to have a deep lower drawer, deep enough to carry a set of standard files, to hold confidential correspondence or the working material which the executive most frequently needs. By dropping suggestions and memoranda into a properly classified file of this sort, a man can accumulate a wealth of information on any subject about which he reads and thinks. The middle drawer of the desk is probably the least useful of all. To open it, the worker must push back hi.s chair and almost distort himself. For that reason the center drawer is frequently omitted in the modern desk.
12.	Orderly desks. The orderliness with which desks are kept, and especially the manner in which the day's work is cleaned up before the employe leaves, should be ascertained by frequent inspections. Such inspections will serve another pm-pose as well. It will often be found that a clerk or an executive does not keep "on top" of his work because too much work is given him. There are men who continually work under an overload of just this sort. There is always something being neglected or shoved aside, and the fault may not be with the man. Usually it is found that more and better work can be done if the desk or working table is cleared of incumbrances. The more orderly the desk is, inside and out, the easier is it to get at and dispatch whatever work may be on hand. "The busier the man the clearer the desk" is a saying the truth of which has been proved many times.
13.	Modern files. The old fashioned, inaccessible cardboard file has been discarded, replaced by modern Multiple unit vertical filing drawers. The discarded cardboard boxes can often be used for transfer files, unless correspondence beyond a certain age is destroyed. In the selection of filing cases, care should be taken to choose durable units, capable of easy extension. Rarely does standardization bear more fruit, in the important matters of economy, and convenience, than in the case of filing equipment.
14.	Types of file equipment. If the filing equipment is in the same room with office furniture, regard for good appearance requires that the material of both should be the same. The relative advantages of wood and steel as material for filing cases are hotly disputed by manufacturers. Steel filing cases are not fireproof, tho they are probably better resisters of fire and therefore better preservers of documents thru a fire, than wooden cases. A modern refinement is a set of filing cases in a container that is asbestos lined. The various filing case units of each manufacturer have been so nearly interchangeable that today it is possible to purchase almost any desired combination of letter file drawers, card-file drawers and card index Drawers provided the cards used are the standard sizes. Small desk card index trays are often an indispensable piece of equipment on an executive's desk. Such trays can also be purchased to fit any desk drawer.

15.	Bookcases. Because of the dust common in offices, books should be kept behind closed doors. An office library is usually built up from a small beginning ; the need of bookcase space grows with the development of the library. Therefore the most suitable form of office bookcase is the multiple unit case, equipped with sliding glass doors to keep out dust. Sections can be added as rapidly as shelf space is needed. The sectional bookcases should be of the same material as the other office furniture.
16.	Office supplies. The term "office supplies" includes primarily paper and printed forms ; it also stands for the whole miscellany of office paraphernalia with exception of the larger items of office equipment and appliances already described. In an industrial concern, the business of purchasing is likely to be a separate department. The materials, when bought, are kept track of by an accurate stockkeeping system, assuring that enough tho not too much of supplies of all sorts are carried, and also that these supplies are economically distributed and used. The same care is necessary in buying office supplies and caring for them as in the case of purchasing factory supplies. Both factory and office turn out a product which is a combination of labor and raw material (office forms, stationery, stamps, etc.). It is true that, in the case of the product of the office, labor has a much larger proportion and materials a much smaller one than in the case of the factory ; nevertheless the difference is merely one of degree.
17.	Standardizing supplies. Standardization of supplies results in savings in the purchase price, just as in the case of equipment and office appliances. In a large office there is a perceptible advantage in standardizing even lead pencils and purchasing in bulk for the whole office. Clerks are likely to have individual preferences or prejudices with regard to pencils. All, except such special workers as draftsmen, can use the same type. So also in the matter of pen holders, ink wells, paper clips and numerous other items.

18.

Forms. It is frequently charged that many concerns pay high prices to printers for forms which might be standardized, and bought at any large retail stationery store. The stationery houses already have standardized such forms as shipping receipts, receiving records, different kinds of vouchers, loose leaf forms, cards and ruled sheets. At the same time it is necessary to use caution in taking over whole sets of office forms put out by the so-called system manufacturers. It is seldom that a ready-made system can be applied in its entirety to an office. The attempt to use such a system is likely to result in an adjustment of the office to the system, rather than of the system to the office.   In all probability, most offices have certain useless forms either because the information contained in a certain form is recorded else where, or because the information is being collected for an emergency which, in all probability, will never occur. In a large office, it is not impossible to start a system of records and forget to stop the system when the reason for its use has passed.

19.

New forms. Any proposed new form shouldbe carefully examined to determine just how it is to be used and just what results may be expected from it. If the form is to be printed, the convenience of the printer is worth considering. The size of paper ordinarily used for office forms is 34 x 22 inches, while the size of card board used in making card forms is 221/2 X 281/2 inches. There is economy in preparing forms of a size that permits the sheet to be cut without waste. For example, there are eight 8I/2 x 11 sheets (the standard letterhead size) in the 34 x 22 sheet. In the same way, there are a certain number of standard sized card forms; for example, 3x5 and 4x6. If the forms are to be used on the typewriter, the dotted lines (often wholly unnecessary) should correspond to the typewriter spacing. Where the quantity of miscellanous forms is fairly large it is often economical to print these forms in the office. The use of small printing presses or reproducing machines described in Chapter IV, will be suitable for this purpose. It is unnecessary to consider artistic design or fine printing on forms that are intended solely for office use. Letterheads should receive due attention from the view  points of standardization, cheapness and advertising value. The modern practice is to use lithographed letterheads because of the clear cut appearance which such work produces. If ordered in sufficient quantities, the price is not very much higher than ordinary printing and therefore the expense is not an obstacle. The question of buying paper direct from the mills should be considered when large lots are being bought or when special runs or special grades of paper are required. Nearly all printers make a handling charge for paper, and the saving of this charge may be worth while. It has been found that a weight of forty pounds to the ream is about the correct grade of paper for letterheads. A heavier weight is used chiefly to add to the impressiveness of the letterhead. A lighter weight is too flimsy and weak for satisfactory service.

20.	Economical purchases. Economy in purchasing is obtained, as a rule, by means of standardization. But economy is also at times secured by the opposite method of splitting up the purchases into different grades. For example, cheaper paper, envelops and forms often suffice for interdepartmental communications, when the stationery used for correspondence with the outside world must be of a higher grade. Water marks have an advertising value in the firm's outside correspondence, but they are an extravagance when used in office forms. A good quality of paper is needed if erasures are frequent, if ink must be used in writing, or if records are to be kept for a long time. An executive frequently requires a specially high grade of private correspondence paper, cut to a nonstandard size. Distinction is added by the very unusualness of the paper's appearance. Too great economy, however, does not pay, even in the purchase of the most ordinary supplies. In a recent law suit, carbon copies of an important document were produced in court. But in this instance a cheap grade of carbon paper had been used and an important matter of the document was not fully reproduced in the carbon duplicate.
21.	Purchasing department, The actual purchasing of supplies should be concentrated in the hands of a person or a department. In such a department information concerning sources of supply is gathered and classified, and catalogs, price lists and quotations are kept. The purchasing department receives requisitions, properly countersigned. It makes out and sends orders, follows up the prompt filling of those orders, inspects the quality of the product, and passes the invoice on to the accounting department for payment. As the volume of business grows, it is worth while from time to time to figure anew whether it would not pay to have certain printed forms prepared on a duplicating machine in the office. For purposes of comparison with later quotations the purchasing agent should file a sample of each lot, and file with it the name of the printer, the date, the price and the quantity ordered.
22.	Stocks of supplies. In a well kept stockroom office supplies will be kept in an orderly and easily accessible manner. Adjustable steel shelving is ideal for this purpose. Where the stockroom is not reasonably free from dust, stationery must be kept inclosed. Another requirement of a good office stockroom is a system of records serving as a perpetual inventory for each item of supplies. Such a record for each item may often be kept on a 3 X 5 index card, the amounts received, delivered, and balance on hand being carried in parallel columns. A “low limit” is written in a space at the top of the card, and when the balance approaches that limit, additional stock is ordered. This is important since a sudden shortage in supplies may entirely hold up part of the office work. The stock card on page 43 indicates the rulings generally used.
23.	Rate of consumption. Office supplies and stores aro funds in concrete form, and should be handled just as carefully. Stores should not be issued except upon proper requisition, and the rate of consumption should periodically be checked with that of former periods. It should be a fixed rule that all supplies, except those immediately needed, must be kept in the stock room and not lying loose about the office or in the desks of its occupants. The office boys serve as the connecting links between the workers and the stock room. Clerks and stenographers are not employed to run to and fro looking for supplies.

REVIEW

What would you, as office manager, do to arouse alertness and economy of time and supplies in the force?

Why do so many office workers continually complain of being loaded up with work ?

What suggestion is there for the office manager in the matter of regulating supplies, when he watches a depositor present his check to the cashier of a bank ?

What advantages are found in the standardization of office equipment ? Of office supplies ?

Location, Planning, And Layout Of The Office

 

1.	Principle of office location.   That location is best for an office which permits its business to be best conducted. Different kinds of offices require different locations. Sometimes the location is determined by the convenience of customers ; sometimes by the nearness of related trades or of passenger and freight stations, or the post office. Altho the location of a particular office must be determined by the special needs of that office it is possible to determine the general features of location best suited for the main types of office.
2.	Factory office.   The factory office should be located in the factory building or adjacent to it. The factory office is established to contain the factory records and to provide accommodations for the factory officials. If office and production plant are separated by any considerable distance, waste motion and loss of time are inevitable.
3.	Producing office.   If an office is used not only as a place to accommodate the directing officers and to keep the records of a business, but is also the place where the business itself is carried on, it should be located, like any other business concern, in a place most convenient for that particular business. For instance, the mail-order office, other things being equal, should be near the post office. A printing office should ordinarily be located adjacent to the main business section of the city near the concerns that are constantly ordering blanks and forms. Banks, insurance companies and brokers' offices are usuall found crowded together in the financial district, where they can conveniently do business with one another.
4.	Sales office.   A sales office, when detached from the main office of a concern, should be located so as to meet the convenience of the largest possible number of buyers. Many concerns, doing a national business, find It necessary to have sales offices in such cities as New York or Chicago, and such offices generally carry stocks, or at least sample stocks. In lower Manhattan, certain districts are given over exclusively to the sale of brass goods, leather goods and white goods. This permits out-of-town buyers, who come to the buying center several times a year, to visit in a short time the sales offices, or show rooms as they are often called, of all representative manufacturers in that line. No large manufacturer can afford to be without representation in these districts. No manufacturer in these lines would think of locating his office anywhere else in New York.
5.	Shifting office centers. A certain shifting of the centers of location for selling offices can be observed in New York today. The travel center of the country for out-of-town buyers is coming to be between the Thirty-fourth Street terminal of the Pennsjdvania Raikoad and the Forty-second Street terminal of the New York Central and the New Haven. In this area an increasing number of buildings arranged for sales offices are being erected. A striking example is the great new thirty-story structure on Forty-second Street near Sixth Avenue, belonging to the Bush Terminal Company. It is called the International Exhibit Building. The Bush Terminal Company has, in Brooklyn, an ideal location for light manufacturing and for the storage of stocks of goods to be shipped by any of the hundreds of rail and water routes which radiate from New York to all parts ofthe world. But the Bush Terminal buildings in South Brooklyn are too distant for out-of-town buyers to visit. Therefore, the company has constructed this new sales building, primarily to serve its Brooklyn tenants. The first three floors of this building accommodate a buyers' club, available for out-oftown buyers without any cost. The upper twentyseven floors contain a great amount of floor space divided into sections of suitable size for patrons who desire a New York selling office. Most of these tenants also carry small stocks in their offices.
6.	Export office.  The organization of a manufacturer's foreign business will determine whether or not he needs an export office. If he sells thru export commission houses, or ships from the interior direct to the foreign buyer, he merely employs forwarders at the seaboard and needs no export office of his own. Export offices, for obvious reasons, must be located at the seaboard.   Most of the export offices of the country are maintained in New York because that city has the largest choice of ocean services. An export office located in New York is always able to get ocean rate quotations from other ports as well, and to have goods shipped from other ports by forwarders located there. New York export offices are, for the most part, located in the shipping district, adjacent to the offices of the railroads and the steamship companies.
7.	Standard location instructions.   Some corporations are continually establishing new branch offices and issuing standard instructions for choosing a location suitable for branch offices. One such set of instructions issued for this purpose reads: The building should be one near the post office. Therefore, in looking for space, begin at the post office and hunt in circles around it until you locate suitable quarters. Avoid a building more than ten years old, or given over to any specialty unless it comes in our line. Seek a building tenanted principally by insurance agencies, architects, and lawyers. It is not necessary that we be in the largest or newest office building in the city, for it is often an advantage not to be in too large a building. Avoid buildings not given up wholly to offices.
8.	Type of building.   High land values in big cities bring about the construction of tall buildings. As a general rule, if the proper situation of an office is in the locality of high buildings, it is undesirable to be located in a low building in that locality. The latter location usually has little light and air, subjects the tenant to excessive noise and frequently to excessive dirt drifting in at the windows. Of course the elevator service in a building should be considered. If that service is good, it is considered well to be above the seventh floor, and, if possible, above surrounding buildings. An outside cut-off view is preferable to an inside cut-off view. If one must be content with the latter, he should bear in mind the disadvantages of a location on the narrow court, such as the conditions of light and ventilation. As to the exposure of office rooms, an eastern exposure is best, a western exposure worst, because of the unpleasantness of the afternoon sun. For similar reasons, north is usually considered preferable to south.
9.	Size of office.   The office should not only be large enough to accommodate the departments which it is to hold at present, but it should also be large enough to provide for future growth. In establishing an office, one should consider the office space that has been needed during the previous five years, and the rate of growth during that time. From these facts one can determine the amount of space that will probably be needed during the next five years. Office arrangements should be made so that there will be no need to move except for unforeseen reasons. There is an old saying, “Three removals is as bad as one fire.” In every move of an office, there is a large loss in equipment, made obsolete by new conditions, and in fixtures and improvements that must be left behind in the old location. More over, removal from the established place and a change in the established telephone number tends to put the concern out of touch with both buyers and sellers.
10.	Principle of office 'planning.   It is rare that an organization has the opportunity of acquiring precisely the sort of office which it would choose. Most offices are in buildings constructed not to suit the demands of a particular business, but the ordinary requirements of any business. If the office has been properly located and enough space obtained for all present requirements and probable future needs, the next step is to place the employes and the equipment in such a manner that the maximum of productive work is obtained with a minimum of human labor. In the case of offices which must attract and hold customers, such as banks and brokerage offices, a further object must be kept in view, namely, that of serving the pleasure and convenience of the customers.   This is the purpose of plan and layout. By plan is meant the division of the space into rooms, aisles, etc. By layout is meant the disposal of equipment within the space thus planned.
11.	Providing for mechanical and electrical equipment.   There will be economy in the end if at the outset provision is made for certain types of mechanical equipment which are to be used in the office. If the office is to occupy more than one floor, elevators, Dumb waiters, and chutes may be used for carrying parcels, records and messages. Overhead carriers and pneumatic tubes are sometimes used for such communications between departments on the same floor. Interdepartmental and outside telephone systems require extensive wiring. At least the main lines of the wiring can be laid at the outset of the office planning. So also with the wiring required for lighting and for operating the numerous electric office appliances that are used today.   When the home office of the Equitable Life was laid out, search was made for a system that would avoid the unsightly exposed wiring common in many offices. Finally, a conduit system was provided for wires, with ample provision for expansion and changing conditions. The principle is the same as that which is driving many cities, in planning their streets, to put all sub-surface piping and wiring in a single conduit gallery, so that additions, changes, connections and repairs can be made without tearing up the highways.   A flourishing export firm in this country constructed a marble home for itself and then found that no provision had been made for wiring. It had the alternative of putting up with exposed wiring or drilling thru the marble. It chose the latter, at great expense.
12.	Room plan of the office.   How shall the office be planned? The habit of providing a private office for every official is gradually passing. There are offices today where everybody, from the president down, is located in one great room. The higher officials are usually separated by railings from the general office. The advantages of such a system are obvious. Every one in the general office is under constant supervision of his superiors and his associates, and this prevents waste of time. With the whole office procedure thus in plain view, it is also easier to detect any waste motion in the passing of business thru the organization. More over, in an office of this sort there is a tendency to foster a democratic spirit and to create an esprit de corps.   On the other hand, executives who must think, plan, analyze reports, and so forth, find it difficult to do so in the noise and interruptions unavoidable in a general office. There are employes in every business whose work is such that it could not very well be done  in a general office. An editorial writer, for example, cannot do his best work amid such distractions. There are certain kinds of business, and certain occasions in every business, which require private rooms for confidential purposes.
13.	Partitions   Private rooms can be provided either by means of permanent partitions reaching to the ceiling, or by means of temporary partitions, which need not be over eight feet high. The advantage of temporary partitions is that they may be shifted to suit any change in the office needs. The use of transparent glass does away with the main objection against wooden partitions, namely, that they shut out light. A set of private offices on the exterior side of the building may condemn the general office to working by artificial light. Opaque glass partitions insure more privacy than transparent ones, yet allow the passage of a considerable amount of light.
14.	Savings in abolishing private offices.  Along with the tendency to reduce the number of private offices and consolidate offices in the main room, there is a tendency to consolidate the clerical work and eliminate unnecessary duplications in stenographic assistance. An extreme example of what can sometimes be accomplished along these lines was related some time ago in the magazine 100 %   A well known manager, in giving his experience in working out efficient plans in his new environment, stated some results which he accomplished along office efficiency lines which may be applicable to many another firm. The following are some of the things he found : Nineteen private offices inclosed with high partitions. Each private office with a private reception room (and these rooms all of a liberal size). Each private office with a private stenographer and a private office boy. Each was exquisitely furnished with desks, chairs, rugs and the usual office accessoriesWhite Rock drinking water supplied.   Sixty eight lights, etc. Expensive wrapping paper for tying up old records. On the whole, a very lavish display and reckless use of space on a high rent base.     This is what he accomplished :   Took down practically all the partitions, making one large general office, which resulted in reducing the number of stenographers from nineteen to three, the number of office boys from nineteen to five, and the electric lights from siktyeight to twelve ; put in filtered water instead of White Rock ; replaced the expensive wrapping paper by cheaper paper which answered the purpose.   Whoever else must be allowed private offices, the office manager himself should generally be out in the open, located where he can exercise general supervision of those who are under him. It is, of course, possible to achieve the same object in an office set off by clear glass partitions which shut out noise without shutting off vision.   For making certain officers readily accessible to customers, private offices are now giving way to general offices. In modern banks, nearly all officials are thus located.
15.	Principles of layout.   In determining the layout of desks, filing cases and other equipment, one rule must be kept in mind. The work must be allowed to flow thru the office, as far as possible, in a straight line. A great many offices are built about the handling of an order. In that case, the office should be so arranged that the mailing department which opens the order is adjacent to the credit department which decides whether the order shall be accepted. Adjacent to the credit department should be the sales department which acknowledges the order : next the order clerks who record it and make the duplicates which go to the accounting and shipping departments. This illustrates the principle to be followed. The precise layout in any office can be determined only by an intensive study of the work to be done.
16.	Letting the work flow.   To determine the efficiency of your present layout, take the floor plan, indicate on it the arrangement of desks and other equipment, then draw a dotted line showing the course of the work with which the office force is occupied. If it is found that the dotted line doubles back, crosses and recrosses, it is probable that the layout can be bettered. One good way is to take the floor plan and have small pieces of cardboard cut to represent the furniture pieces of the office. Shift these about until the desired arrangement is obtained. If time can be saved in the passage of an order thru the office, or if waste motion can be eliminated in the relations of one department with another, it may pay to go to the trouble and expense of removing partitions and making a complete rearrangement. With proper planning beforehand, changes of this kind can be made over-night, or changes can be made gradually so that only one department is incommoded at a time.
17.	Equipment and users.   If we follow this principle of letting the work flow in a straight line, we shall see to it that those departments are placed adjacent to each other which have the most contact. We shall see to it that equipment is placed nearest to those who are actually using it. For example, in one instance a great improvement was made by taking the files of salesmen's correspondence out of the general file room and locating them in the sales department on another floor. It had been noted that this correspondence was used only by the sales manager and his assistants, and there had been a great amount of lost motion in lugging these folders to and from the general files. Nearly every concern is likely to find similar wastes in its own offices.   It is worth while to examine the office layout from time to time to see if it is still in harmony with the constantly changing conditions of the business.
18.	The principle of compactness.   In the distribution of desks and other equipment, the two principlesof compactness and roominess must be considered. Office space is valuable especially in the larger cities. In an article in one of the issues of System magazine the owner of a retail clothing store thus described intensive utilization of space to provide an office in his store   We have to use every available inch of space. The main office occupies fifty-four square feet, and accommodates two desks, an adding machine, a typewriter, and two filing cabinets. The telephone rests on a shelf by itself. The typewriter occupies a shelf at a convenient height for operating. When not in use, the adding machine slides directly under the typewriter shelf, the two taking the space of one. Under the cashier's desk are shelves for filing books and storing the odds and ends of office equipment.   My private office occupies a space nine by four and one half feet in size. It accommodates two desks, two small safes, and a filing cabinet. Altho small, it makes a very convenient working place. I have arranged everything so that when I sit at my desk I can reach any file or book I want. On the wall to my right hand are two telephone books, and several books which contain advertising sug gestions. To my left is the filing cabinet, which contains the names on our mailing list.   The practice of marshalling cardboard slips representing equipment upon the office plan will often suggest means for more economical use of the space. By one firm it was found possible to put five office desks in the space which had formerly acconmiodated but four, thru the simple device of placing them obliquely to the aisle instead of facing it.
19.	The principle of roominess.   Yet the economy of space can be carried so far that it may hinder efficient work. In general it may be true that the most efficient employes are those who are glued to their desks. But this is not to be taken literally. Sometimes they must move and when they do so they should not disturb others. A few general hints can be given, based upon experience,  with regard to the space that must be allowed for workers. Each employe, including his desk, aisle and chair space, requires from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five square feet. Aisles should be at least three feet wide. When employes work back to back, it is well to leave four feet between chairs. In front of a filing cabinet a space of five feet should be allowed, so that employes can pass even when the drawer is fully extended. The idea of compactness is to be pursued only up to the point where it is short of over crowding.
20.	Ventilation.   If the system of ventilation does not provide sufficient fresh air for those in the office, they tend to become languid, especially toward the close of the day. The subject of ventilation is a technical one that need not be exhaustively considered here. There are numerous solutions. There are window ventilators that deflect the cold air upward. There are simple exhaust fans that draw out the stagnant air while fresh air finds its way in at the doors and windows. There are ventilating systems that pump in air from the outside, pass it over steam coils and send it into the room at a required temperature. The need and choice of ventilating systems will vary with the particular circumstances in each office. An expert should be consulted in dealing with the problem. Any ventilation system can be improved by the practice of opening windows before work begins in the morning, and during the noon hour.   Smoking is, of course, not allowed in the general office.
21.	Office temperature.   Overheating the rooms is unsanitary and, what is equally important from the view-point of office efficiency, it is a hindrance to good work. The New York State Commission on Ventilation and the Chicago Commission on Ventilation have established, with scientific accuracy, that 68 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which the best office work is done. In a test it was found that a group of men did 37 per cent better work on a certain job when the temperature was at 68 degrees than they did under otherwise exactly the same conditions at 86 degrees. A larger output at 68 degrees was attained not only by those who did typewriting, but also by those who  did mental multiplication. It was found that under conditions of abundant fresh air, the workers in a temperature of 68 degrees did more than 10 per cent more work than those in a temperature of 75 degrees. A temperature over 68 degrees tends to inefficiency and this tendency increases when the higher temperature is accompanied by a lack of fresh air. There is obviously the same reason for preventing the office from becoming too hot in the summer as there is in winter. Electric fans and various ventilating systems serve this purpose.   In one concern an office boy has been assigned the duty of going thru each room in the office every hour in order to make sure that the temperature is at 68 degrees. This boy shuts off or turns on more heat, or opens windows, as the condition of the room warrants.
22.	Drafts.   A common danger in makeshift ventilation is the creation of drafts. The body should not be subjected to currents of air of a temperature lower than 60 degrees. An eastern mercantile concern has figured that each cold in its office force costs the company $24.00, directly or indirectly. Such colds are worth preventing. They can be created by too much ventilation in summer as well as in winter, as can be testified by those who have suffered from the injurious use of electric fans.
23.	Noise prevention.   Every one realizes the difficulty of doing concentrated work in a noisy office. That, indeed, is one of the reasons why a large number of private offices still prevail. The segregation of noise-producing instruments within a closed-off part of the office often makes it possible to dispense with private offices. Not only a $10,000 a year manager but also a $15 a week clerk will do better work if he can be protected from distracting noise.   In large cities, protection from noise is obtained by the use of offices high above the ground. In those modern offices where artificial ventilating systems are constantly filling the room with fresh air of a prescribed temperature, it is not necessary to open windows and let in noise. Window strips help to keep noise out of closed windows. Noise originating within the office can be greatly reduced thru intelligent effort. Unnecessary moving about the office can be forbidden. Some degree of success in this respect has also been achieved by padding the walls and ceiling with material of sound-absorbing texture. Rubber rests can be put under typewriters and the floor covered with sound-deadening material. There are, in fact, noiseless typewriters. Every reduction of mechanical noises also tends to reduce unnecessary conversation between clerks.
24.	Lighting systems.   Few offices today are lighted by gas. In such cases, an incandescent burner should always be used. Most offices are now lighted by electricity. There are three methods by which this light is made available for the workers: the direct, indirect, and semi-indirect. With the direct method we are all familiar. Semi-indirect lighting requires from forty to fifty per cent more current than direct lighting, while indirect lighting requires from fifty to seventy-five per cent more. That is the price paid for more pleasant and efficient conditions of work.   Semi-indirect lighting has increased faster than indrect. Many a person does not feel that he is getting sufficient light, if he does not see the source of it. Where an employe has such a feeling, there is often uneasiness and unrest that interferes with full attention to his work.
25.	Care of lights.   A few general suggestions are worth keeping in mind, no matter what method of lighting is employed. Reflectors and lamps should be regularly  cleaned. It will make a difference of 25 percent in the amount of light obtained. So far as possible all cord connections for fixtures, fans and desk lights should be removed and supplanted by floor, base or wall outlets. A cobweb of hanging wires is unsightly, and the danger from fire thru short circuits is always present. Lamps should be turned off promptly when not required for use, and only so many lights should be used in the daytime as are absolutely necessary. Each department should receive a notice to that effect, and regular inspection should be made to see that these instructions are carried out.
26.	Drinking water.   An adequate supply of pure, fresh drinking water in the office is as important as a supply of fresh air. Most people drink water at least five times each day. Where the city drinking water is not absolutely safe, bottled water should be prodded. In all cases, individual glasses or individual drinking cups should be supplied. It is important to have drinking places conveniently located among the working force. There is a loss if the employe must walk a long distance to get a drink. There is also a loss if the drinking facilities are so inadequate that there is crowding around them, for the crowding makes the emploj^es waste time in conversation. Provide enough drinking water, close at hand to all, under conditions that forbid contamination.   Some concerns have found it profitable during the warm weather to have a boy pass around every half hour a rack filled with cups of water to supply the officers and the clerical force.
27.	Toilet facilities.   The laws of many states specify the minimum supply of toilet facilities. For Example : they may specify that there must be one wash bowl and one toilet seat to every twenty employes. This will ordinarily be found insufficient by those who wish to prevent overcrowding and waste of time. Moreover, the modern office manager wishes his employes to have the best facilities, not alone from altruistic reasons, but because it pays. Of nothing, perhaps, is this more true than the toilets. Adequate and decent toilet rooms, kept constantly neat, contribute as much as any other one thing to the contentment and morale of the working force.
28.	Dust and disorder.   A disorderly dusty office is unsanitary. It also lowers the pride of the employes in their work and their efficiency. It results in soiled, untidy work being turned out. There is no substitute for regular cleaning and dusting of the office. Sometimes it is possible to stop the dust before it gets into the office. A new manager of a factory office found the clerks wearing thick cuff protectors ; stenographers were constantly rubbing out finger prints and the bookkeeping department was kept busy cleaning up pages in the books. There was a great waste of supplies, particularly of papers, which were dusty and grimy from lying around. The office was situated over the boiler room from which soft coal dust drifted in at every delivery of coal, that is, every forty eight hours. Fine mesh screens were installed over the windows and mitigated the evil until it was possible for the office to be moved to a cleaner place.

REVIEW

 

Name four types of oflSces and state what general considerations should be given each one in selecting a location for it.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of one large office room for officials and employes with the plan of many private offices.

Determine, by some simple device, the efficiency of the layout of any office with which you are familiar.

Show how improved work will result from giving careful attention to details of light, heat, noise, etc.