The 5 Most Boring Office Admin Tasks

In a workshop I once went to, the expert speaker spoke about how everyone has “a frog” in their working day.

Now, I’m clearly not talking about an actual amphibian, unless you are a zoo keeper, in which case that may be a possibility.

A frog is the job you keep putting off and putting off until the very last minute.

It is based on the quote from Mark Twain, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

The idea is if you tackle your most dreaded task as soon as you arrive in the office then the rest of your day will be plain sailing.

Wise words indeed.

So here is a list of our top 5 frogs, or the most boring office admin jobs.

1. Booking travel.

Trying to book corporate travel can be one of the most soul destroying tasks. Once you have managed to finally co-ordinate everyone’s time and places of departure, you will usually find the original price has trebled. Even though you have spent about 3 days trying to get the best price, your boss will still insist you try to get a better price by seeing if everyone will drive and park at Runcorn rather than Lime Street.

2. Arranging meetings.

Similar to number 1, in many ways. Trying to co-ordinate the diaries of more than one person is always a tough task, particularly if they are in demand. We feel your pain & recommend using a schedule app like Doodle to take some of the strain away.

3. Ordering stationery.

Unless you are super organised, this usually only happens when you realise you don’t have enough letterhead left for the 500 person mailing which has just landed in your lap at the last minute. Shameless plug alert, using our online mailing service Foojit means the emergency stationery order will become a thing of the past.

4. Sorting invoices.

I have never met anyone who enjoys invoicing. Whether it is trying to work out your finance department’s incomprehensible purchase order system, spending precious time chasing up clients for payments or trying to remember is you sent it to them or not.

5. Sorting the post.

Desperately trying to sort the post before the postman arrives is a scene recreated in offices across the land. No one enjoys spending their time printing, folding and stuffing mail into envelopes. Then there is the franking or sticking on stamps and sometimes a mad dash to the post office. Shameless plug, number 2 coming up. Use our online postal service Foojit and you can send all your mail at a touch of a button without even leaving your chair.