New research has revealed that the legal sector, which is often perceived as traditional in its processes, is ahead of other sectors, with four-fifths (80 per cent) of employees saying their bosses have introduced paper-less working. A survey of 1000 workers, conducted by WorkMobile, found that legal employees used less paper than other sectors. However, those working in the education sector rely the most on paper (80 per cent), followed by the finance sector (68 per cent), and the construction and utilities industries (67 per cent). A third of businesses in the education sector (34 per cent) and construction and utilities (33 per cent) have taken no steps to even reduce their usage. But, the finance industry is trying to become less reliant on paper, with 77 per cent of companies implementing paper-saving processes.

Paper-based processes

The research was carried out as part of WorkMobile’s ‘Death of the paper trail report’, which investigates the sectors that are still reliant on paper-based processes, and the pitfalls that businesses often encounter by working in this way. Colin Yates, chief support officer, said: 'With so much technology at our fingertips, it’s surprising and disappointing to see that companies are still relying so heavily on paper-based processes like printing documents and posting mail, and are not introducing the most basic of steps to reduce the use of paper. Technology has advanced way beyond clunky fax machines and printing out hundreds of documents on a daily basis. And with more and more employees now working remotely  using mobile devices, we shouldn’t be using so much paper. Companies must look to introduce paper-less policies to improve internal processes and make for greater efficiencies and accuracies.'