When you first get a new desk job, and you show up for work the first day, your desk and area is totally cleaned up, looking nice. A couple of weeks later it looks like someone has ransacked your area. This isn’t the way it has to be or the way you want people to see it.
There is an old saying, “I can tell what your house looks like by the way your desk looks.” Several factors contribute to the disorganized workspace, and here are four ways to straighten your area up.
Your Desk Area
First get a good desk. One that is right for you and meets your needs. An L shaped desk will hold your computer on one end and you’ll still have working space on the other end. It is considered a great desk for leaving space in the office.
The chair that is recommended to go with a desk is the high back chair. Being able to relax for a few minutes in the chair is very important. The lower back chairs are not comfortable. Although, no matter what you’re sitting in, you should get up and move around every so often.
Implement Time Management Tips
Second, improve your time management. To look at tasks and figure how long they will take, then schedule accordingly, is one of the easiest ways to make good use of your time.
Third, purge that paper. Paper clutter builds because people are afraid to throw anything away. They think they may need it. About 80 percent of the paper saved is never needed again, and if it is chances are it can be obtained from another source or recreated. Paper is the largest contributor to clutter in an office environment.
And fourth, make decisions quicker. When failing to make immediate decisions clutter happens. It’s not an event but rather a process when getting organized. If you have a game plan and goals in mind it’s possible to make a good amount of headway in a relatively short time.
Develop Systems
A dedicated phone line should be available for a computer to be able to hook into for high speed internet. A top line computer, i.e., IBM, Dell, should be available for you to work on. At least 150 gigabytes should be available and at least 1 gigabyte in memory.
A printer that is a four in one and includes a fax should also be available.
A filing system can be established by alphabet files. Filing cabinets are now nice looking compared to the old metal ones. The wood looking ones are now recommended to dress up the office. Either two drawer or four drawer ones are available, depending on the necessity of filing space. File systems are simple, easy and manageable. Finding information even faster is ease when you color code your files.
Office Supplies
When buying office supplies, buying in bulk is always a good idea. A case of paper is 10 reams and it can be used for any paper needs. Pens and pencils are always in demand, as they are continually lost easy. Binders are used as needed, which could be for company’s special papers and instruction to different machines. Anything else would be in a regular file. Use an assortment of organizers to keep paper clips, staples, push pins, and rubber bands on your desk. Stackable trays are a good idea to have on your desk to put outgoing mail in one, things to file in one and incoming from other employees. Keep an assortment of all occasion cards and stamps in your desk. Have a “to do” list to follow each day.
At the end of the day and especially at the end of the week, straighten your desk so that it will be clean when you come back to work.
Something that none of us would think of doing is not placing any pictures of our family on our desk. Neither children’s pictures nor pictures of our spouse. With the world the way it is today, we have no idea who sees these pictures and gets ideas about our family. All this information to a predator means danger. They could follow you home or look in a phone book for your phone number and find your address. Always have your number unlisted. Don’t display awards, certificates, ect., that your children may have earned. This will usually tell the school they go to. All of this also goes for your home office. Display these things in an area of your home that people coming to the office won’t go to. In this day an age, it’s scary as to what can happen.
Computer programs are kept in their own boxes and put on a shelf where they can be seen and found. It is important to be able to get to these in case something happens and you have to download them again on your computer.
Keeping an office in good order and getting the office supplies you need is not a hard task if you stay up with it. By doing so, you will have a smooth running office, that looks quite professional.
