With vaccines being rolled out across the globe, it’s not unreasonable to believe that there should be a massive return to the traditional work setup soon. Studies also show that three out of five office workers expect to be back in the office by the second quarter of this year.
If you and your company are thinking of moving your employees back to the office, even with a combination of the traditional office and work-from-home setup, now is the best time to do some spring cleaning and large-scale organizing in your workspace. You will find that many of these tips, pointers, and hacks have to do with getting rid of visual clutter—a simple and effective way of helping your employees focus on their tasks at hand. Here are some best organizational ideas you can incorporate into your office this 2021.
Organize with productivity in mind
Cleaning and organizing are not just about aesthetics; they should help with your employees’ productivity, as well. It may seem like there’s no correlation, but the layout, design, and cleanliness of your office can greatly influence the way your employees behave and the culture of your company. If you’re thinking about reorganizing some things in the office, be strategic about it. One example is placing items that a specific set of workers need in the nearest and most accessible place to minimize wasted time. Whatever steps you make in terms of storing materials, make sure it’s purposeful and strategic.
Invest in high-quality storage containers
Here are the benefits of using plastic storage containers:
- They can help store and organize your bulky, seasonal, and different kinds of items in one place.
- They come in various shapes and sizes.
- They are transparent and can save you and your employees the time of looking into the boxes one by one when you’re looking for something.
- The right ones can be aesthetically-pleasing and look good in your office, no matter its design and decor.
- They can hold your materials safely since plastic storage containers and other tools require a special kind of plastic bonding—one that ensures that the container is secure and won’t break easily.
Find ways to hide all of your wires
With all the computer towers, keyboards, cellphones, monitors, mice, laptops, chargers, and other devices that inundate our office, the presence of hundreds of wires is surely an eyesore and, worse, a fire hazard.
Keep the wires tucked away using simple hacks like binder clips, especially if your office desks don’t have a slot feature where they can be hidden. You can also purchase some under-desk cable management trays—there are plenty of these products in the market that won’t break the bank. While you’re at it, label the cords as well so that your employees don’t accidentally unplug their workmates’ computers.
Label, label, label
The key to ensuring that everything in your office remains organized all year is by making your label maker your best friend.
Another study found that the average U.S. employee wastes one and a half hours per week looking for missing things. While that number doesn’t seem like much, imagine if they could spend those wasted minutes not just working but resting their eyes and minds as well (and don’t get it wrong; resting is also an integral part of productivity).
Keep everything in your office labeled, from the materials and supplies to the coffee and tea ingredients in the pantry. It will keep everything in its place, and not even your most careless employee can make the mistake of misplacing things.
Explore automation
There is plenty of software and programs in the market that can help offices automate recurring tasks, like the following:
- Gathering and organizing your clients or customers’ information
- Calendar reminders that can help your employees to book appointments and coordinate schedules
- Signing documents
- Hiring new staff members and employees—you can automate the onboarding part of your hiring process
- Handling finances, which is admittedly tricky since you want to ensure that anything that revolves around money is always secure, but some programs can help you pay your bills on time
The Bottom Line
The past year may have been hard in many businesses, but the one upside is that it has given us a lot of time to think about what works in our office and what doesn’t. If you want your workspace to be a place that makes your staff excited about going to work, take this time to move things around and reorganize to improve their productivity and energy levels.
