A clean office reflects a productive employee!

I was reading an article on Forbes.com, written by Jenna Goudreau, and she made a statement that caught my attention,

“According to a survey of over 1000 workers by staffing firm Adecco, a majority of Americans (57 percent) admit they judge coworkers by how clean or dirty they keep their workspaces. Meanwhile, nearly half say they have been ‘appalled’ by how messy a colleague’s office is, and most chalk it up to laziness.”

I certainly never want to be labeled as “lazy” by my coworkers, but I truly believe that being organized improves your performance, which will set you up for success. So if enhancing your productivity isn’t enough to motivate you to keep your workspace tidy, perhaps not wanting to “appall” your coworkers will give you the push!

Here are a few tips of my tips on how to get rid of the clutter and chaos:

• Go Green. Do we really need to print out all those unnecessary reports and old agendas? By scaling back on printing, or printing double-sided when you need a hard copy, you’ll reduce those stacks of paper that only end up piled up on your desk. Plus the trees will thank you!
• Make time. Allow yourself a couple minutes at the end of the day to dispose of food containers, wrappers, coffee cups, and any other trash. Then go through the files and paperwork that are still sitting on your desk and sort them, file them, and put them where they need to go. No more “oh, I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”  Make sure you take all personal items home.
• Maintain. Once you've de-cluttered and deep cleaned your space, you’ll have an easier time keeping up with it, but I guarantee that it will get messy and cluttered again. In order to keep your office tidy, you should create some sort of daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance plan, and it shouldn’t stop with just your space. If you have common areas on your office (kitchen, conference room, etc.) it would be a good idea get all of your colleagues to help maintain the cleanliness of those spaces.

Following these tips will make it easier for your janitors to vacuum and dust your office or workspace.  You just might be surprised how these simple steps can totally change your production rate within your office, and you might even inspire your coworkers to tackle their own clutter!