It is essential to have a workspace that is organised and comforting. Maintaining a neat workspace not only helps keep your mind refreshed but also increases your productivity. On the other hand, having an untidy workspace can provoke stress, reduce your ability to focus, and heighten unfavourable feelings associated with clutter.
As a way to help avoid some of the toxic effects of staying in a dirty and untidy environment, here are key ways to keep your workspace consistently clean.
Use Proper Storage For Everything
Not having a proper place to put items like files, pens, calculators, etc., will make your work area look messy. The best way to avoid this is by getting a desk with drawers or even storage cabinets, as they will allow you to neatly stash all the items you don’t need at the moment.
When items are properly kept away, you will have little to no clutter on your desk or any part of your office. You can also label each drawer so that you can easily find items. Pencils, pens, and markers can be kept in one, while binders or files can be kept in another.
Do Not Eat At Your Workspace
Eating around your workspace is quite unprofessional and wrong. This practice can leave behind crumbs around your work area or cause a hazard, as you might accidentally spill your drink on an important document or gadget. This is why an area should be assigned to employees where they can eat and relieve tension.
Get Rid Of Items You Don’t Use
Sometimes you mix up items you don’t need with the ones you still need and end up with clutter. A quick way to avoid this is to get a container and place every item on and around your desk inside it. Then if you need an item, you can remove it from the container and return it to your desk. If by the end of the week you still have things in the container, those items need to be disposed of or placed in a storage area. Anything that hasn’t been used in a week shouldn’t be kept in your workspace.
Scheduling A Time For Cleaning
As the Manchester based company, Spotless Commercial Cleaning tell us, the easiest way to create a routine is by doing it consistently and continuously. To get the most out of your workspace, plan a block of time every day, week, or month exclusively reserved for tidying up.
Clean Your IT Equipment
IT equipment is one of the most used items in the office today, and since several hands will be touching them all the time, they need to be kept clean. Since they are exposed to human contact often, they are likely to harbour bacteria, which will quickly spread around the office. Using a simple sanitising wipe across the surface of these gadgets will help retain the cleanliness, and deep cleaning them will prevent the spread of germs.
Move To A Paperless Office
Papers are usually the cause of clutter in an office. They build up from printing forms, emails, receipts, and other paper transactions. Now that the world is going digital, it is best to download applications and software that can be used to save such information and documents online, as they are much easier to use and faster to share with others. Going digital will create less paper waste and also keep your surrounding environment tidy.
Whilst you’ve got your environmentally-conscious hat on, consider enlisting the services of an eco cleaning company should you need a more comprehensive deep clean of your workspace.
Hide The Wires And Chargers
Whether it’s going cordless on your keyboard and mouse or simply concealing existing wires in your workspace, a cord-free setting will make a massive difference in how clean and neat your workspace feels.
Several products are available on the market to help arrange and hide wires. Also, having a docking station for your cell phone will help the area look neat.
Clean Your Desk At The End Of Each Day
Before calling it a night, briefly inspect your workspace to see whether or not you’re leaving any minor clutter or mess around. Throw out the trash and clean up any spills or coffee stains that may have built up over the day.
Put A Trash Can Where You Can Reach It
Being unable to throw things out from where you’re sitting will cause a build-up of trash around your work area. You can fix this by putting a trash can within arm’s reach, if possible.
The Bottom Line
A clean and tidy workspace will not only help you psychologically, but it will help protect your health as it will reduce the number of germs around your work area. Therefore, consciously keep your work area clean and see how well you will enjoy work.