When you started your business, you seemed to have plenty of office space. In fact, it felt like you even had room to grow.
Now, perhaps it’s been five or ten years, and you’ve certainly grown, but it’s almost as if you’ve grown too much. You know that there are many tips out there to help you save on space in your workplace, but you’re just too busy to sit down and put any of them into place. If you’re not quite ready to move everyone into a larger office office, it’s time to put some office workplace organizing strategies into place that will help you maximize the space you do have, while increasing the productivity of your employees.
Tip #1: Use Various Boards for Important Reminders
While Post-It notes are certainly popular (and, let’s face it, they sure do come in handy once in a while), they can create quite a bit of clutter if they’re not thrown away when you’re finished using them. They can also get lost pretty easily because we tend to jot down important notes on them and then stick those notes to practically anything. You probably won’t be able to convince your employees to abandon the notion of Post-It notes altogether, but by installing a few boards in their offices or cubicles (think white boards and good, old fashioned, cork bulletin boards), you can help them make use of their walls to stick important papers, or to jot down quick notes. These make their important memos much harder to lose.
Tip #2: Think Vertical
When we think of having more space, we tend to think horizontally. However, that’s not always the best option, especially if your office space really is pretty limited. Office supply stores are full of great tools that can help you create vertical storage solutions for your office. Consider hanging some baskets on the walls to hold different types of papers. A wall file organizer is a great way to have client files at the ready, or to keep those other important files off your desk and make them easy to grab in a hurry.
Tip #3: Incorporate a Miscellaneous Information Book
Let’s think about your filing cabinets for a moment. How many of those files contain one or two pieces of paper? Unfortunately, we’ve come to believe that paper files are an absolute necessity for the office, and in some cases, they’re pretty handy. However, it’s important to periodically downsize these filing cabinets, and some corporations do this every year. When some of your files are just taking up space because they’re contain very minimal information, why not take down that information into a book? Every office should have a miscellaneous information book that holds important passwords, license numbers, or other information so that it’s easily accessible. If your office is more electronically-savvy, you might even consider trading in your paper files for electronic ones. Are you ready to make a complete switch? Many offices have, and they’re saving a lot of space.
If you’re finding that you need some help making better use of your workspace, or if you’re really ready to upgrade to a larger office, we’d love to talk with you. For more information, contact us today.
By: James Osgood
Photo Credit: Christmas w/a K via Compfight cc