Many offices can become cluttered over time and with that clutter comes inefficiency, stress, and often compromised health and safety. If your office space is particularly small, then these issues are compounded even more – but there are some ways and methods you can employ to ease the situation and design a better organised workspace. The often-quoted phrase “tidy desk, tidy mind” can be the path to a less stressful work environment and better overall wellbeing in your workplace! Here are some suggestions for easing the space issues in your office:
Go Paperless
One of the elements of office work is the amount of paperwork generated and/or necessary for everyday business – paper is a major contributor to clutter! The modern practices of digital information and documentation has led to a welcome reduction of everyday paperwork, but there is still a requirement for hard-copy documents and files – try to print out only what is absolutely necessary. Use laptops and tablets for note taking at meetings, and store business and corporate documents on a shared drive or other digital space. If you MUST use paper for certain events or transactions then ensure that you only retain the most recent and necessary versions – regularly revisit the paperwork you have in your workspace and shred or responsibly dispose of anything that is out of date, has been superseded by a later version, or is simply no longer necessary to retain!
Filing Cabinets
Where paperwork needs to be retained, store it neatly and orderly in filing cabinets – this will keep all the documentation together, making it easy to access when required, and reduce the amount of paperwork lying around on desks and table-tops which make the office untidy and more difficult to work! Documentation stored away in an organised manner will make every day work tasks more efficient and professional, and less stressful.
Under Desk Storage
Small office spaces need to utilise all the available space to hand – under desk storage can prove very helpful in these environments! Under desk drawer units slot easily into space that would otherwise be ‘wasted’ – or invest in desks with ‘built-in’ drawer space rather than standard desks for which you only utilise the desk surface.
Create A Clear Workspace
The starting point in creating a clear workspace is your desk – make it free of ‘clutter’ and organised. If you have desk drawers or under-desk storage, as mentioned earlier, then make full and efficient use of them and create a worktop surface which is as clear as possible. By keeping the items that you use or need the most in the top drawer for easy access, and the least used items in the bottom drawers, you can have an efficient workstation at your fingertips.
Wall Space
Very often this useful vertical space is overlooked – whilst the office floor space is being efficiently occupied with standing cabinets and desks, often much of the wall space goes unused! You can make the most of the height of your office and the vertical wall space with different kinds of shelving that can be installed against the walls, and you can also consider racking systems. Wall shelving is ideal for the storage of lighter items in the office – and can be easily and safely accessed with the use of ‘library-ladders’. Remember, it is not only the horizontal space in your office you can effectively use for storage!
Cable Tidies
Along with paperwork, another of the ‘necessary evils’ in an untidy and cluttered office are cables – often your office is littered with an entanglement of cable work – laptops, keyboards, phones, office printers, photocopiers and the like can create a dangerous web of crossed cables! Not only does it clutter the space and look untidy, but it can also be a health and safety hazard – use cable tidies to group together cables and leads where relevant and appropriate and place them in the best strategic and safest manner and location around your office. Cable tidies are an inexpensive tool to make your office space both easier to manage and reduce stress, along with the bonus of providing a safer work environment.
Modular Storage
Modular office furniture is more versatile than the traditional shelving, racking and storage unit solutions which are not always easily ‘upgraded’ – modular office furniture allows you to increase storage capacity as and when required, by simply adding another module component to the existing installation. The separate modules can be easily rearranged or moved to suit changing requirements within the business environment.
Off-Site Storage
There is a more long-lasting solution to solving lack of space issues within a small office – you can consider renting a business storage unit! These storage facilities are professionally managed and secure and are ideal for storing important archived paperwork and records and they can also be used for the safe storage of valuable office equipment and supplies.
