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In a survey of over 1000 workers run by staffing firm Adecco, 57% admitted to judging their coworkers by the cleanliness of their workspace.

Many of the respondents simply put the lack of organisation and cleanliness down to laziness, and assume that that a messy desk means you’re also messy in your personal life. Now imagine what your staff and clients must think of your business if it’s a mess.

There are many reasons, other than warding off the inevitable judgement of others, to keep your office clean and tidy.

Productivity

Keeping a clean and organised workplace helps to keep staff focused by eliminating distractions and obstacles. Research has found that the time we spend searching for an item needed to do our job is not only lost physical time but also lost mental time. Researchers at Michigan State University found that even short interruptions of around 4.4 seconds can triple the rate of errors in our work.
Keeping your surroundings organised and in order helps to keep your mind in the same state. For true productivity a tidy work area is crucial to allow the team to be more effective.

 

Health & Wellbeing

An untidy workplace can easily become an unhygienic workplace, meaning the spread of bacteria and germs can become a real risk to staff. Keeping the office clean and tidy reduces the risk of staff illness, leading to a healthier work force, less absenteeism and therefore, increased productivity.
Dust build up and poor indoor air quality contributes to colds, viruses, the flu, asthma and allergic reactions. By cleaning work surfaces, breakrooms and bathrooms you protect your staff and encourage positive health and wellbeing in the workplace.

 

Workplace Health & Safety

With an untidy office comes obstacles. Boxes piled in hallways and broken chairs and equipment blocking walkways are a hazard that should most definitely be avoided. The last thing that you want in any environment is a risk of trips or falls that can cause injury.
Everything in its place means a safe and sound work environment for all. Add to that some handy warning signs alerting staff of any danger present, like a wobbly step, or wet floors and you’re on your way to a zero injury workplace.

 

Save Money!

An often forgotten benefit of an organised and tidy workplace is its ability to save you money. By keeping things in order you’re more able to keep an accurate supply inventory, preventing you from ordering supplies that you don’t actually need, reducing unnecessary spending.
It is estimated that each staff member costs a business around $400 in office supplies every year. So, keeping your office supplies cupboard neat and tidy, with everything easy to find will not only help your team do their jobs, it’ll also stop them from ordering things they don’t actually need, and save you some big bucks!

 

Better Book Keeping

Proper document storage may seem like a pain but if you consider the cost of improperly filing your important documents you’ll see why it’s so important. You never know when you’ll need to quickly get your hands on critical business data or financial records. An efficient records management system for important documents will help you find things more quickly, reducing stress and the associated pain of having to replace lost documents.
Before you get to work cleaning and re-organising it’s important to consider what products you’ll need. Make sure you have a good stock of all-purpose cleaners and disinfectants as well as some effective cleaning cloths, mops, scrubbers etc. If you’re going to do this, you might as well do it properly.
Other items that will help to keep things clean and organised include shredders, plastic storage boxes, appropriate filing systems and don’t forget the all-important labelling machine!

 

The best way to create a cleaner and more efficient work environment is PLANNING. Take some time to consider the changes that need to be made and organise your thoughts before putting anything in to action. By planning ahead you’ll save yourself time, reduce mistakes and get back to doing business sooner.

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