11 essential office supplies for small businesses

Starting a new business venture can be overwhelming. You have many things to consider, and focusing on the big picture can be daunting and intense.

While it’s important to maintain a broad perspective, it’s also essential that you don’t miss the small details. You may have a great business plan, funding, and a spacious office for you and your employees. But if you don’t have the proper tools, equipment and office supplies, then your business won’t operate successfully. 

Your business office will never be complete without the essential office supplies. Incomplete office supplies can hinder your potential to become productive and delay your tasks if you find yourself constantly searching for bond papers, clips, or even pens. Regardless of the size of your business, you’ll need to have complete office supplies to ensure a smooth workflow and avoid any hassle.  

Here are eleven essential office supplies each small business must have in their desks and offices:

1. Office furniture

It’s challenging to start working if you don’t have any furniture. Some of the most important pieces of furniture an office must have are desks, office chairs, room dividers, and litter bins. Imagine working in an office without any desks and chairs. Your employees will spend their entire shift crammed together at a small table. Not only does this cause discomfort, but this can also compromise their productivity and work etiquette.  

While budget constraints can be a concern when shopping for furniture, investing in good-quality furniture is a smart move. It will be an investment, so long as it lasts for some time.  

2. Writing tools

Writing tools include papers (all types of paper), pens, pencils, markers, erasers, highlighters, and sharpeners. With these tools, you can easily take notes, record, highlight, or erase data and information when needed. Some even consider these writing tools as their best friend in the office. You can buy a complete collection of writing tools from stores like Index Office and other available office supply stores in your area. 

3. Grouping tools

Another basic set of tools is the grouping tools, which include staplers, rubber bands, paper clips, tape, and glue. If you’ve noticed, they all serve one purpose: to group pages or things together when needed. You can utilise each of them depending on how much paper you need to group together and for how long you need them to stay attached.

4. Computers (laptops and desktops)

Computers and laptops are now a basic commodity in any office setting. They save you from manual labour or operations and keep everything streamlined. Aside from the computers themselves, you’ll also need accessories to backup all your essential files. To do that, you’ll need office tools like external storage, including flash drives and hard disk drives (HDD). You can easily connect these to other devices and quickly retrieve stored data.

5. Printers

You won’t have any papers to staple, read, or submit for reports if you don’t have printers. Thus, printers are also one of the tools your office must always have. Your small business operation might require you to print dozens of pages every day. If you want to reduce office printing costs, you can opt for duplex printers. Otherwise, you can always reuse the other side of the used pages if possible.  

6. Phone systems

Every office needs to have a phone system in each department. This will make communication easier and faster as employees won’t have to frequently walk around to relay important and urgent messages.

7. Meeting and collaboration supplies

It’s common for office workers to gather together regularly for meetings and collaboration. Thus, some tools to help you in these gatherings and team activities include whiteboards, visual aids, conferencing systems, or a projector to help you present your ideas more conveniently to the group.

8. Other essential desk tools

There are also other essential desk tools to help you and your employees work more efficiently:

• Scissors: A handy tool for cutting papers, opening boxes and envelopes, and cutting images, tapes, and other paper material. 

• Stamps: Some offices use stamps to authenticate essential and confidential documents. It also signifies that a particular document is approved, paid, or received.  

• Sticky notes: Sticky notes help set quick and urgent reminders for your office workers through visual notification. 

• Desk organizer: A desk organizer can help you save space on your desk by keeping all tools in place and making it look neat and tidy. It’ll be easier for you to reach out for tools when everything is in the right place.

9. Paper shredder

This tool is used to destroy sensitive and confidential office documents. Unless you intend to keep them securely, then it’s best to shred those papers to protect sensitive information.  

10. Water cooler and cups

Water coolers, coffee machines, and cups may not be work-related, but these will keep your employees hydrated and help them stay in shape and alert to keep working until the end of their shifts.  

11. First-aid kits

A responsible workplace will always have first-aid kits available in case of emergencies. It could also include things like tissue boxes as these can be handy in case someone has minor allergies or you need to wipe off stains on your desk.

Wrapping up

Regardless of which office setting you have, the office supplies listed above will never go out of style. These will help you complete your daily office tasks with ease and improve your employees’ work performance and productivity.