Organize for Success: 4 Office Organization Tips to Boost Productivity
Go into your office and look around you. Does the room make you feel serene and ready to work? Or does the mess around you make you feel nothing but overwhelmed?
If you chose the second option, something needs to change.
Taking some time off work to tidy up your office might seem like a waste of time that you simply can’t afford. But think about it, how much time do you already waste looking for documents and papers you need? (Here’s the answer: 4.3 hours a week.)
Keep reading as we go through four essential office organization tips that’ll make you an even better professional!
1. Declutter
Who’s never bought something, thinking “One day I might need this” and then… well, never even looked at it again?
Before you start thinking about how you can reorganize your office, decide which items are useful to your work and which ones do nothing but take up space.
Then, divide the second group of items and see what you can sell or donate, and what should go to the trash.
Not only will this make your life a lot easier when it’s time to organize everything, but it’ll automatically improve the whole look and vibe of the room.
2. Reassess Your Storage System
Do you typically have loose paper documents lying around your office?
This makes you look very unorganized and it does nothing to decrease those 4.3 hours you already waste every week.
Upgrade your storage system by:
- Evaluating what you must have on paper
Most of us use computers for our work, and one benefit of that is that you can store certain documents digitally. This is great for your office organization and for the environment!
- Using transparent boxes
Do you keep your papers (or other items) lying around because you’re afraid you’ll forget where you put them? See-through boxes are the perfect solution to your problem!
- Label each and every box
Labels will be your best friends in this journey towards a more organized workplace. Use them in boxes, drawers, and bins, and you’ll never waste time looking for anything again!
3. Get Recycling Bins
Every office should have a regular trash bin, as well as three others for paper, plastic, and glass.
This way, you can discard of any piece of trash immediately instead of waiting to go outside because let’s be honest, oftentimes, when we do that, we end up forgetting it lying around the office.
Plus, this will make your workplace more eco-friendly!
4. Organize Your Inbox
So far we’ve been focusing on your actual office, but keeping an organized email inbox is just as important. After all, how many emails do you get every day?
Keep your inbox always tidy by:
- Unsubscribing from any newsletters that you never read anymore.
- Using labels. You can do add them manually, but our suggestion is that you automate this task.
- Archiving emails that aren’t relevant anymore.
Office Organization: A Tidy Workplace Is a Productive Workplace
Among all the tasks you have to take care of on a daily basis, it’s very easy to let your office get a bit messier than ideal.
But preventing this from happening is just a matter of adopting simple habits like the ones we listed. You’ll see that once they become a natural part of your routine, your productivity levels will be through the roof!
If you want to read more about office organization and productivity, make sure to further explore our blog!
