Believe it or not, your workspace layout affects on how you are faring out with office productivity. The notion that a messy cubicle (READ: paper works filing up, reminder board overflowing with post-its of things to do, office supplies scattered around your desk, etc) evokes hard work is wrong. Truth is, a messy workspace is equal to a less productive office day. Employees with workspace overly loaded with stuff usually lost at least one productive hour looking for important things and documents that are lost in the sea of their workspace mess. Thus, in order to keep your sanity and efficiency, a good workspace organization is highly necessary.
Are you ready to make that change in your office desk for a more productive you? Here are tips on how to effectively organize your office space to achieve your productivity goals:
Observe proper desk layout
Consider your desk as your own command post. To increase efficiency, lay out your desk so as there will be minimal distractions during your work. Your monitor/ laptop should be at the middle of your table and within eye level. As much as possible, keep only the necessary supplies on your table and within your reach for easy access.
Minimize your office supplies
Your office supplies are tools to make your work life easy and not meant to be a distraction. Limit the number of pens, papers and other office tools on your desk. Those frequently used item must be in your desk and within your reach and keep those items which you seldom use in the upper part of your pedestal drawer below your desk.
Limit your personal mementos
Travel souvenirs and personal photos are good motivation for you to work hard but going overboard in displaying them in your workspace may become a distraction also since it tends to take away your attention from what you need to do. To effectively manage your “personal space” in your desk, limit your personal items to three things only. Position them at the farthest end of your desk to avoid drawing too much attention.
Tame that reminder board
It is a good thing to put up a reminder board for the things that you need to do. However, an overloaded reminder board defeats its purpose as you have the tendency to lose those memos and miss the things that are urgent. One thing to do to avoid your reminder board from cluttering is to do immediately whatever you have written on your note. Be diligent in removing the notes that are no longer needed and save those contact details on your phone or your address book.
Mind your paper works
Your papers are the usual culprit of your office clutter. Some employees have the tendency to procrastinate in reviewing, signing or routing office documents until such time that the pile on the table is higher than the empire state tower. Others are just lazy to dispose ” expired” documents that they keep on piling up on the desk and become permanent eyesore. Use the paper tray wisely. Don’t let those documents sit on your paper tray. Have an SLA for your documents processing which includes signing, routing, filing and disposing. Take advantage of your office scanner and scan those important documents which you may need and store them in your computer storage drive where you can easily access them when needed.
Free up a “white space”
It would be advantageous to keep a space the size of an A4 paper to make it easier for you to review and sign documents. It is recommended to designate this space in your dominant side.
Follow a specific work flow
Working on a number of tasks almost simultaneously may become overwhelming. It is important then to keep relevant documents of active tasks in your table and learn to prioritize tasks. Group your work flow as:
1. High important and urgent
2.Urgent but not important
3. Important but not urgent
4. Not urgent and not important
In that way, you avoid missing out on the documents and your tasks.
Keeping up with an organized workspace requires constant follow through on the process. Make it a habit to clean up your desk to avoid accumulating clutters.
The Virtual Cubicle 