The office is one of those places where clutter easily piles up. This often happens when you’re very busy at work, answering emails and phone calls and writing reports. Having a clean desk is the least of your worry because you’d rather make use of the time getting things done at work. But at the end of the day, you end up wasting precious time because your messy workspace has buried all the important paperwork.
With all the papers, accessories, files, and other general clutter, it is tough to have an organized office workspace. This can be more difficult if you’re running a small business at home and you have extremely limited space for a home office. Your spot can easily get crammed with supplies, equipment, machines, and drawers, making it look completely dysfunctional than ever.
Whether you have a shoebox-sized office or a large study, there are plenty of ways to keep your office on point. Remember that a clean office is a secret to a productive and comfortable business operation. So get those organizers and wiping rags ready, as this article discuss the best office organization ideas to spark creativity and productivity for your office or business!
Automate tasks
Managing a business or doing office work involves plenty of repetitive tasks daily, which takes too much time. This often applies to office managers in-charge of checking in clients, scheduling daily meetings, and restocking office equipment and supplies. The good news is there’s a way to get off these simple tasks on your list and focus on more complex projects.
A task management software is a helpful tool to incorporate into your business operations. It comes with different features from assigning and scheduling tasks, receiving and sending reports, and keeping track of staff deadlines and tasks. Some programs come with task management suites to monitor projects and ensure the staff are doing their work on time.
For client-based businesses, cloud-based remote work software is perfect for entrepreneurs running their business online and managing employees remotely. It comes with special features, such as resource allocation, project accounting, time tracking, and group collaboration.
What’s great about these task management platforms is the reduced amount of paperwork and staff meetings. These programs allow you to perform plenty of functions, where you can monitor employees without asking them individually about their current progress.
Organize electric cords
Have you tried working on a very important project when the monitor suddenly shuts down? This leads to extreme feelings of panic and stress, thinking that you lost your progress and broken the computer. With a hint of hope, you crawl beneath the desk only to discover that a loose plug caused it because of a cable jungle.
Hiding electrical wires is one of the best desk organization techniques. If you’re managing a business, you have to deal with countless electrical devices, from chargers, phones, laptops, CPUs, computer accessories, and monitors. Not only will you have to think about where to put them, but it also includes the wires attached to those devices. With the wrong organization technique, those wires can get out of hand by causing accidents and loss of important data.
Hiding the messy wires makes a big difference by eliminating the visual clutter in the office. A great tip is to find work desks with wire slots to hide those cords. If you don’t have one, use binder clips to group wires together and keep them out of sight.
Another technique is to use colorful labels to differentiate devices from your coworker’s space. A colored power strip is also a good option to prevent important labels from falling off.
Assign a landing pad
When we have so many things in our minds, we are often unaware of where we leave things in our workspace. This often results in mixing personal items with work and misplacing important files. Eliminate this by assigning a part of your desk as the “landing pad”. The landing pad will be the only section on your entire workspace where you can leave things on.
Do this by marking the area with a tray, cutting board, or decorative mat. You can also use duct tape or decorative washi to establish a border and separate the rest of your items from the landing pad. Leave the rest of your things inside an organizer, drawer, or cabinet. Once the landing pad is filled with items, take the time to remove the clutter and return the items where they truly belong.
A polished and clean office is one of the secrets to productivity and also a reflection of your business. Taking out the clutter will help you and your employees focus on the work at hand and eliminate any anxious feeling. Having a pristine spot can go a long way by preparing you to tackle any task that comes your way.
