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In this article, Gary Lyons, Managing Director of Plastic Box Shop, offers his advice for organising your office to make sure it’s the best environment to do great work in.
Poor organisation within a business not only looks unprofessional, but it can have a negative impact on your workforce. In fact, 41% of office workers believe that an untidy workspace makes them less productive in work (Brother). This could be because chaotic spaces lack order and offer excess stimuli, making it harder for you to focus on the task ahead (Psychology Today).
Ultimately, low productivity costs money. So, it’s worth including lots of storage options in your office fit out or refurbishment project and ensuring that your employees are keeping on top of their workspaces. Below, I’ll be sharing my tips for office organisation that’ll help to keep your team motivated and productive.
Decluttering
Having too much unnecessary clutter in your offices looks messy, makes things difficult to find, and it can take away valuable storage space that could be put to better use. And, if employees are faced with an untidy environment, they could get distracted from tasks and struggle to process information.
Take the time to process everything in your office and get rid of what you don’t need. Digitise then recycle paper files and documents as much as you can, and only keep the stationery you use regularly — everything else can either be tucked away in boxes in hidden storage.
Creating light, open spaces
After the decluttering process, you should notice you have many more clear surfaces and shelves than you did before. This is beneficial because open spaces can promote logical thinking, problem solving, and creativity, as they are less stress-inducing (Life Hack).
So, when you’re putting back the items you can’t reasonably get rid of, don’t feel like you have to fill every shelf or cover every surface. Leave a few clear if you can. You can always take advantage of the vertical space in your cupboards by using stacking plastic storage boxes to help keep your exposed shelving clear.
Organisation systems
When restocking your shelves and cabinets after a clear-out, take advantage of the opportunity and review your organisation system to see if you can make it more efficient. This includes your filing, which you can categorise in clearly labelled archive boxes to make finding important documents easier. Plus, if everything has a proper place, your shelves will look neater and more aesthetically pleasing too.
In your cupboard, store loose items in boxes and tubs and categorise them according to their function. Pens, notebooks, and miscellaneous stationery like hole punchers, for example, should each have their own box so you can simply reach in and grab what you need without hunting for it. Plus, if you keep the items you use every day towards the front of your cupboards and keep lesser used objects in the back, you can save even more time.
Fitting or refurbishing your office is a great opportunity to review your storage systems and make them as efficient as possible. By following the tips in this guide, you’ll also understand how having a tidy workspace can have a lot of benefits when it comes to employee wellbeing.
