Managing an office facility

There are a number of legal requirements relating to the management of office facilities, these legal requirements are set to make sure the office facilities and management are doing things correctly and making sure staff, documents and information are all treat equally and in line with the law. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is an Act of Parliament, it is a very important health and safety legislation for workers in the UK.

This Act of Parliament was set to ensure that the health, welfare and safety at work issues of the employees are reasonably looked after by the employers. At my place of work this is relevant to us along with other Acts of Parliaments and all our policies can be found on www. coopacademies. co. uk. The policy that is main linked and refers to The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is our Management of H&S Policy Statement. Contracts of employment are also another legal requirement relating to staff in offices.

It is a legal requirement for all employed staff to be given a contract of employment as the contract is a legal document between both the employer and employee and provides stability to both parties. It should outline a number of things such as start date, nature of appointment (fixed term/temporary/permanent), place of work, hours of work, salary, leave/holidays and sickness policies. An office facility provides a wide range of services. These services are widely varied from one office setting to another but generally have the same principles.

Production of documents would be used in all office settings for example spread sheets to analyse and sum up data and word documents to produce letters. Photo copying, scanning and printing are offered usually on one combined machine and are very useful in day to day duties for things such as printing out letters to send to people, making copies of passports and ID’s for HR purposes, and scanning documents such as school application forms to the relevant people to keep a digital copy. Making Travel arrangements such as booking flights and accommodation.

Both incoming and outgoing mail is another service, we have to distribute mail internally through pigeon hole system, and also log any letters that are brought down to us to be posted externally, then frank them and insert the information onto spread sheets. The answering of telephones is also a big part in office day to day life, we have to log the number that is calling then write down what has been requested/asked and then right what action we are going to take or have taken so we have a record of all our phone calls to look back on if necessary.

Establishing office management procedures is key in the smooth running of an office. This is so that all members of staff have something to refer to, to make sure the work, decisions and practices they are doing are correct. Procedures are to be told to new employers on their induction or training days, they also should be made easily accessible either via the internet or physically printed out.

Safe working procedures should be in place to ensure safety of staff and anyone else may be in your workplace, these can be things such as certain doors need to be kept open or closed, no hazards left on the floor and no drinking near electronics. Risk assessments need to carried out for anything that there is a potential risk, danger or threat. The risk assessments are put in place to identify the risks so they can be avoided.

For example, in an office if somebody is pregnant they would need to be risk assessed to make sure there current working conditions are suitable and if not they have to be altered to accommodate the employee’s needs. Fire procedures are very important and are usually detailed in the staff handbook where to go if you hear the fire alarm. There will be an assembly point where everyone must gather and people should get to this by leaving at the nearest exit. There should be a number or an email address to phone to report if you are going to be absent from work and this must be abided by in the professional way.

For instance, it would not be acceptable to text your line manager stating you was not going to be in work today if this was not the correct procedure you were told to follow regarding absence. At my place of work there are plenty of office procedures we need to follow as well as the ones detailed above this includes, the fonts we must use on all letters and documents, who to report technical issues to and the way to report it, the handling of telephone calls, booking in and out of mini bus keys and logging of external mail.

In an office facility it is very important to manage all the resources in the right way, so that their effectiveness is maximised. Equipment, materials, staff and information are all resources you come across in the office environment. Maintenance of equipment ensures it lasts longer and works to its full potential, for example our printers and photo copiers and booked in for regular services so the technicians can pick up on any faults.

Materials should also be used in the correct way, you may decide that you can print something double sided instead of on two separate sheets of paper, this saves a lot of paper in the long run. Also you may decide you can print something in black and white instead of colour as printing in colour is an expensive way of printing and should only be used for absolutely necessary jobs. An Effective way of managing staff is to have regular meetings and reviews, setting targets and giving both positive feedback and room for improvement.

Information can be managed by good organisation skills, Filing documents both paper versions and electronic should be organised properly by being in a certain order for example alphabetically or by the date. Support and welfare facilities is about looking after your staffs needs and giving them opportunities. These opportunities can be creche’s and or childcare vouchers, water machines, tea and coffee making facilities, advice of things like finance and legal information, trips and or activities and discount cards.