Working in an office is very good. Office jobs are usually jobs that you can leave at the door when you are going home and you don’t have to worry about them.

A lot of people get fed up with their current situation will turn to an office job because they know that they might not experience as much stress. However, office jobs are not without problems and if the job has deadlines, you could still experience a high level of stress.

If you work in an office, or you are the supervisor, you will know that things can go wrong between the members of staff. Read on for more information about office related problems and how to resolve the issues.

Staff Members Arguing

One of the most prevalent issues among staff members is when they aren’t getting along. Arguments will flare up over the littlest thing and it causes an atmosphere within the office.

Atmospheres are not conducive to a good working environment, so you need to put a stop to these arguments once and for all. The first step will be getting the two members of staff to sit down and work it out.

You could find the root of the problem and they might even end up being friends. If that does not work then you have to move them away from each other. Seat them at different ends of the office so that they are not close enough to argue.

If they are still arguing, then you have to consider moving one of them to a different office, or you will have to take disciplinary action against them. You can’t let arguments simmer and you can’t have the opinion that it will all blow over. If you do this, then the argument could turn into a physical fight and you might end up having to fire both members of staff.

Stealing Office Supplies

You should not get surprised if members of staff end up stealing from the office. They won’t steal massive things, it will just be bits of stationary here and there and you might even thing that confronting them is not worth the trouble.

However, if they then come to you and say that you need to buy stationary, then it can become a big issue, especially if you have to buy new stationary over and over.

The best course of action here is to face the culprit, but to do it discreetly. Don’t do it in front of everyone. Then you should put a sign up saying that stationary and office furniture is the property of the company, and you should see a change in the behavior.

Car Parking Issues

A lot of offices have restricted parking, so you should have allocated everyone with a parking space of their own. However, if you notice that people are coming in earlier and earlier and they are arguing a lot, then there could be an issue with the parking spaces.

If the wrong people are using the spaces, then you will either have to number the spaces or put names on the spaces. Have a sign that says people for towed if they park in the wrong space.

If this still does not work, then you have no choice but to issue locks for the spaces. Parking locks are made so that they get installed in the middle of the space and there is a raised barrier so that the space gets block. The barrier will only lower when the correct car drives into the space.

It struck me today when I was at lunch just how quiet the kitchen was. There were 5 of us all huddled together, a variety of different sandwiches and salads adorning the table, and guess what, we were all looking at our phone screens, flicking and tapping randomly, furiously and laughing all in our own little bubbles.

Tonight I changed a habit. While having my dinner instead of reading the journal. ie or checking out what was happening on Facebook, I turned the phone off, left the tablet in the bag and watched and listened as my two kids laughed and sang along to the film Frozen. My little girl in particular loves this movie and wants to be Elsa, so as soon as the song “Let it go” came on she started to sing without been prompted. She saw me looking at her in pure daddy awe and smiling that proud, that’s my little girl smile, and she gave me a little wave as if to say “thanks for listening to me daddy”

It touched me deeply because had I been engrossed on my phone I would have missed that moment of innate connection between us, where no words were spoken, but my face and body language expressed 100’s of words, emotions, love and pride.

Don’t get me wrong I think the strides we have made in technology are incredible.

I love social media marketing so much that I went back to college by night to get my diploma in Digital Marketing and Facebook and Twitter have both allowed me to stay in contact with great friends who are now in the four corners of the globe.

But I think we need to just now and then take a check that we are controlling our technology not the other way around.

I first started in Marketing when I was 16 in 1987 (oh god I feel old) working in Arnotts department store as a sales assistant.

Social Media was not part of our lives and a phone was something you dialed on the desk by the cash register. At 16 I was thrust into the world of face to face conversation and having to talk to people I did not know.

I had strangers come up and look me in the eye and ask me to help them find the right shirt, jeans or suit. After all I had the white shirt and tie on, so I was the expert in their eyes, although the mother who asked me to measure her little boy for trousers, who I then proceeded to advise that he had a fifty inch waste, would probably beg to differ. I never did get the hang of the measuring tape!!

However, the point I want to make is that when each of these customers came into the shop in person looking for my help I could not text, email, tweet or Facebook them the answer. I had to stand there in person and communicate to them both verbally and with my body language to find out what they needed, solve their problem and ultimately create rapport.

As business has evolved and the technology has increased we seem to be spending less time talking to each other in person and instead we use technology to do the engagement for us.

Just think about how many face to face meetings you now have for reviews or general catch up with a client in person. It probably is very different to what is was 3 to 5 years ago as we now communicate via non face to face methods. I myself have clients who I have spoken to numerous times on the phone or via email but who I have never met in person even though I have tried to get that face to face meeting. Everyone is just too busy it would seem.

This train of thought was further highlighted when I was recently at a networking event and I found it strange just how many people there were conducting online conversations and staring at their phones rather than talking face to face with the other people in the room.

I recently came across a great article entitled, Saving The Lost Art Of Conversation by Megan of the Atlantic, and in this piece she starts to review these very points that I am touching on.

In her article she recounts her interview with Sherry, a hugely respected psychologist and a professor at MIT. Sherry was working on a new book called “Reclaiming Conversation” and from her research she came to the conclusion that we’re talking all the time, in person as well as in texts, in e-mails, over the phone, on Facebook and on Twitter.

Obviously I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite or that the art of conversation is doomed. I know I am using the power of technology to share this post with you, and don’t get me wrong, I do love all the advances and the ideas of what is coming down the line in the future, such as wearable technology, apple I watch, near field communication etc, but let’s not forget that we are social and tactile creatures, and I hope that human interaction and face to face conversation will not die.

I think back to when I was a teenager and all the excitement followed by utter or was it mortification, and then the elation, when after an hours of eye contact and finally plucking up the courage to go over to that girl I fancied in the disco and asking her to dance and she says yes. Oh the joy and then the fear as I realized I can’t dance!!!

That whole scenario obviously would have been completely different and nowhere as emotionally charged or exciting if done by text or tweet.

So I challenge you, as I will be challenging myself each day, to put the phone and tablet down a little more than you do right now and let your other senses do the conversing.