Spring Cleaning for Your Workspace

In the 2015 Wrike Work Management Surve, 52% of respondents said their top stressor at work is missing information. 51% said they had problems prioritizing tasks and 59% store project information in one or more emails and 41% said they use multiple platforms for managing projects. Whether you are in an office of one or 10,000, lack of time management and information organization is causing time, money, and good health in the modern workplace.

There are three keys to improving this challenge: managing your schedule, managing your information, and managing your workspace. In a nod to spring cleaning, we will focus on managing your workspace.

Whether you work from home or in an office, you need a clean and organized workspace to maximize your productivity and reduce your stress. No time like the present!

Following the 5S Methodology, with an additional step added in, you will have your work area looking new in no time!
  • Schedule – Schedule time to devote to organizing your area. You want to complete as much of it as possible in one sitting so you can get back to work.

         Is your schedule jam-packed? Try to schedule this for a slow time in the week, come             in early, or stay late. If allowed, make a Saturday afternoon of it.

         If you’re a manager, block time for your team to do this as a group. Co-workers can               help each other out and you will have a great looking office when everyone is done!

  • Sort – Look at everything on your desk and in every drawer one item at a time and put it in one of four piles: File, Act, Toss, Keep.
           I like to put all my paper documents in a big pile because I like the sense of                 
          accomplishment I get from watching the pile shrink. This is optional, though. Keep                the trash can and shredder nearby for the Toss pile. Have a basket or a box handy                for the items that do not belong in the area or are no longer needed but don’t belong              in the Toss pile (if you have three staplers, you might have two co-workers lacking      
          one!). You will put these away in the office supply cabinet or wherever else they    
          belong after you are done organizing your desk. To hold yourself accountable, you     
          are not done until this is completed!

          Don’t work on File and Act as you go, or you will never finish! Action on these stacks            will come later. 
  • Sweep – Take a minute to clean your desk with your favorite cleaner. Don’t forget to clean your telephone receiver, behind the computer monitor and in the drawers!
  • Straighten – Now is the time to put everything back in a way that will optimize your workflow and efficiency. For example, constantly using your stapler? It needs to be on top of your desk in an easy to reach location. Hardly ever touch the stapler, but need to keep it for when you do? Tuck it away in a desk drawer.
         Put your Act pile aside and schedule 10-15 minutes first thing every morning to work            on it. Make filing a 10-15 daily task during one break a day. Set a timer so you don’t              get caught up in either activity. If you do this, the piles will be gone in no time!
  •  Standardize – This is where your color-coding and labeling happens. Have a standard way to do things so it’s always easy. Use all manila folders or, if you want more color, assign a specific color to a general category. Consider labeling drawers if you have trouble remembering where things belong.
  • Sustain – This is the hardest part for a lot of people. You can put systems in place all day long but have trouble keeping up with them. Schedule 10 minutes at the end of each day to go through your workspace to make sure everything is where it belongs. This will help create the habit of organizing and work the parts of your brain where the information is stored, helping you remember what to do in the long term.

If spring is your busy season, this process can be done when things slow down. And, it probably shouldn’t be limited to once a year. The point is to make time to implement these steps as needed to keep your workspace functional.


Know it needs to be done and could use some extra support? Contact us today to schedule a consultation! 

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