As we’ve discussed in previous posts, clean desks make happy employees. It’s not just the fact that there isn’t any clutter, but having a clean, organised space to work in has been proven to boost productivity, encourage higher levels of teamwork and improve morale. While those benefits are quite substantial in themselves, the effect can be amplified if the entire working environment is the same. De-cluttering and organising your office can make it easier for everyone to find things, help out in the auditing process and remove the risk of unnoticed data theft. So this January, make cleaning out and organising your office a priority and really see the difference over 2017.
Get Prepared
If you’ve ever tried to clear out a room over a long period of time, you know how impossible it can feel. Because you are using the space, it never truly gets organised, and instead the mess just shifts around the room for a while. So instead you need to block out some time to clear out and organise your office. If you work in an office with other people, an evening or weekend is ideal, as you won’t have to fight all the people working around you. Now to get prepared. The ideal way to organise your office is to take everything out of the room, as it is much easier to control the flow of what goes back in. However, for most people this is impractical, so instead, choose the area you want to focus on first and how you will move around the room. Now grab yourself some heavy-duty bin bags and dive in!
Sort It Out
It’s amazing the sorts of things you can find in an office once you start looking. From balls of string to lost sharpies, we’ve even found clothes and old mobile phones hidden in the backs of dusty cupboards! So as you’re going through your section and pulling things out, sort them into piles. We find a ‘keep’ and a ‘bin’ pile to be very effective, but you might want to be more specific and designate piles for ‘stationary’, ‘shredding’ and ‘filing’, for example. Once you’ve worked through your section and it’s empty, you can clean the shelving and start to put things back in a logical, organised way. Repeat this process around your entire office and you will end up with a cleaner, tidier office and a large pile of things to dispose of. If it’s normal office rubbish, you can throw it away and forget about it, but if it’s confidential paperwork or other documentation, get in touch with your local shredding facility to ensure its disposed of securely.
Set Up Your Supplies
The biggest mistake a lot of people make it going out and buying a load of new organisational supplies BEFORE they do the actual organising. As a fellow stationary lover, I get the urge, but it really is a better idea to buy your supplies after you’ve done the sorting and worked out exactly what you need. Otherwise, you’re just asking for a bunch of stationary that doesn’t quite do what you need it to and ends up as junk. So now that everything is put back where it needs to live, take a look at the best way to store it and go from there. One of the main things we recommend is installing a secure shredding bin somewhere in your office. These little bins are completely lockable and secure, making them the perfect way to store confidential documentation before it is destroyed. You can arrange to have the bin emptied whenever you like, and will be provided with a certificate of destruction as proof that your documents have been securely disposed of. Perfect for keeping up with your data protection obligations and keeping your office clear of clutter.
It might sound like a simple thing, but organising your office can make a huge difference not only to the performance of your employees, but the way your office operates as well. Slick, organised offices tend to have less trouble with paperwork and audits, less friction between employees and a healthier atmosphere for everyone. At Greenaway, we specialise in helping you manage your office paperwork, keeping your office secure and free of excess rubbish. For more information, get in touch today for your free consultation.
Recent Comments