9 tips to organize your office space
9 tips to organize your office space
9 tips to organize your office space
1. Re-assess the space. First things first, take a look at your office and identify exactly what it is that needs changing. Where are the problem areas? Is it a problem of untidiness - are there too many documents lying about, can you not see your desk for paper? Or is furniture getting in the way of you doing something - is the spatial organization hampering productivity? The best thing to do is to try and look at your office space with a fresh perspective. Maybe try and manoeuvre through it with specific tasks, and get your colleagues/employees to offer any feedback on improvements that could be made. Think about what kind of working atmosphere you want to promote would it be better to have a more open plan office style so that everyone can communicate quickly and easily, or do you need to provide more secluded areas so that people can operate more efficiently? Assess everything from your filing system to how efficiently your office furniture is working for your needs. It's important to remember that not every business works in the same way, so office organisation should be shaped to the nature of your business and to the ways you work. Here are some more specific tips and approaches which can help streamline your office space, making it more efficient and you more productive.
Small steps easy to implement
2. Reduce. Probably the easiest first step is to simply reduce your office contents. In offices, as in homes, it is very easy to accumulate things, from piles of paper to furniture. As part of your reassessment, consider what you actually use and need in your office is there a piece of equipment that is barely used, or does a very similar job to something else? Is there a table which is just used to put piles of paper on? Do you have equipment/furniture that has a missing or broken component that you have been meaning to fix? Make sure that everything has a functional use, and if it doesn't, get rid of it! If the idea of getting rid of stuff seems wasteful, there are plenty of ways to streamline and remain responsible. Check your paperwork for duplicates, and get rid of excess paperwork through an office recycling schemes (companies like shred-it handle documents that need to be disposed off confidentially and recycled). If you have furniture you don't use, contact a local charity to give it another life.
3. Archive storage. Another fairly straightforward way to cut down on office clutter, and implement a streamlined system of filing to follow in the future, is to archive your documents. For any business that is over a few years old, its not necessary to be able to get to documents that are now historical artifacts whether they be relating to former clients, or simply out of date bank statements. While you might not want to get rid of the information they contain entirely, it might be preferable to put them out of the way in storage. Once you have decided exactly what constitutes archive material which means implementing a retention policy, a system for deciding the appropriate cut off point for when documents move from current filing to archive then you need to decide where and how to keep it. There are a range of archive storage solutions available, from modular shelving systems that can be added flexibly here and there to office spaces, to more sophisticated systems that use mobile shelving to create a archive unit that can be opened and closed when needed.
Medium steps requiring a little more planning and expenditure
Get the basics right is your equipment working efficiently and to its maximum capacity? Once you've reassessed your space and cleared out the things you don't want, have a look at what you are left with and consider whether that particular method of storage is working most efficiently.
4. Shelving. Are you using the right shelving for the right job? If you are storing lightweight files, do you really need large scale heavy duty shelving? Would it be more useful to have shelving that can adapt to your needs? There are all sorts of options available, from highly versatile cantilever shelving which can be adapted and added to suit storage needs encompassing a range of items, to adjustable shelving which is strong and versatile, to complete shelving systems like Dexion Longspan shelving fully adjustable and expandable to give you maximum flexibility.
5. Alternatives to shelving. Related to whether your existing shelving is working most productively in relation to your needs, is whether shelving is the most appropriate storage system. If you have lots of equipment, or need space to store staff belongings easily, perhaps locker or cupboard units might be more efficient. These are particularly useful if you require safe storage, as lockers can be fitted with a variety of different locks.
6. Spatial layout. As well as the ways in which you organize office equipment and paperwork, it might be useful to consider whether you are using your space most efficiently. Perhaps you inherited the layout from a previous company, or didn't initially have time to think about working layout, so now would be a good time to reassess what works best for your business. This will depend in part on how your business works and how your employees communicate. Open plan office space can be great, but if your employees need space of their own to work without distractions from others, maybe the modern inclination for open spaces is not best for their productivity. If this is the case, you might consider modifying your office layout using partitioning rather than a big building redesign project.
Major steps for offices that need complete overhaul
7. Office furniture. Are the bigger items of furniture in your office desks, filing cabinets etc ideally suited to your needs? It's worth taking stock of what works and what doesn't, particularly when there are so many options when it comes to office furniture. Maybe traditional filing cabinets are too bulky for your space? Perhaps you've got lots of separate units which are taking up more space than necessary? As part of your reassessment consider what you could live without, but also what you would like in an ideal world. With the availability of units that offer a variety of storage options in one piece of furniture, like Tambour cupboards, or reception desks which include cupboard space, to something as straightforwardly space saving as stacking chairs, there are plenty of possibilities for a more sophisticated arrangement of office furniture than just chair, desk and filing cabinet.
8. Mezzanine flooring. A more radical solution to the problem of restricted space, business owners who need to expand but don't want to move their office completely (due to financial considerations, or simply because they like their location) might consider installing a mezzanine floor. This is a fantastic way of utilizing space you already have and expanding without the major disruption of moving your business entirely. The additional space a mezzanine floor can provide could be dedicated purely to storage if you don't have that much overhead space, or to further expand offices, meeting rooms and so on.
9. Expert re-design. Alternatively, if you don't feel as though you can reassess your office on your own, or you know that a major overhaul is needed, it might be most productive to hand the re-design over to an expert. An experienced designer can be of great benefit, whether you require a full re-think and overhaul of your entire premises, or you need a single office redesigned. Project planning services, like those offered by Bristol Storage Equipment, can offer solutions to your office space problems from design to installation.
If you are feeling frustrated with any aspect of your office space, from the piles of paper on your desk, to tackling a clunky layout that slows down your communication with your colleagues, we hope these tips will be helpful. If you need further advice on any aspect of office space, whether to do with storage solutions or to do with office furniture, please contact Bristol Storage Equipment.
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