How To Keep A Commercial Office Space Organised

Commercial offices are incredibly important. They provide a space for ideas to be discussed and refined, for your business operations to go ahead, for colleagues to socialise and work together, and for clients to visit and hopefully make deals with you. With that in mind, it doesn’t take much to understand why a commercial office space should be organised and tidy. Although you might be interested to know that there are some extra benefits to having a clean and organised office space. Studies tell us that an unclean and disorganised workspace can contribute to the spread of illness, cause inefficiency and time wasting across the board. By cleaning and tidying a commercial office space you can boost the health, happiness and productivity of your team.

Now that you know why an organised and tidy office makes sense, you need to know how to keep it organised and tidy. Here are our top tips to help you keep your working office environment functional, aesthetically pleasing and clean:

Have An Office That’s Run For You

These days, not everybody wants an office that is completely rented and paid for full time. Hybrid working arrangements, freelancing and other working styles call for the use of hot desking, and also serviced offices. It’s not for everybody, but it is worth considering if you want more flexibility and the process of creating functionality and organisation in full-time rented office space is just not something you feel able to do at this time.

Consider Affordable Self Storage

If you need safe and secure storage for items like paperwork, filing cabinets, unused stock and seasonal stock, it could be worth investing in some cheap storage to clear space in the office. In fact, some people actually use cheap storage units as office space, if the facility actively supports that kind of usage. It’s a cheaper, more flexible and affordable option to a permanent, rented office that can work wonders for some businesses, especially those starting out or who grow and shrink regularly for different reasons.

Declutter

Marie Kondo and other decluttering techniques are not just for domestic households. Decluttering is a great way to cleanse an office and help free up lots of space. It also helps you to create a safer, more organised space overall, for better function and control across the various departments. Do try to ensure that decluttering is done with a detailed log of what has been sorted, including a very specific process for getting rid of paperwork. Some paperwork must be retained, legally, so if you are unsure about whether something can be destroyed or not, keep it and put it into deep self storage so you can check the legalities before you do anything you can’t reverse.

Have A Place For Everything To Go

One of the reasons that Marie Kondo is so popular is because she does not just help people to declutter. What she does, is transform spaces so that they are functional again, and so that the home is less likely to get cluttered again. You can do the same with your office, so that the standards of organisation can continue to be maintained. Of course, you have to develop good habits to maintain your tidy standards, but when you give everything ‘a home’ you are much less likely to become disorganised in your office.

Have An ‘End Of Day’ Process

It is a great idea to have a process for everybody to go through to ensure the office is in great shape at the end of the day, and ready for a new working day the next morning. This could include actions such as:

• Anti-bacterial wipe of the desk and keyboard
• Throwing away/ putting away loose items
• Vacuum of the office
• Spray and wipe down of communal areas
• Close the blinds
• Any paperwork moved to shred pile, or filed
• Any loose items anywhere placed in their ‘home’

Of course, you may have a cleaning service, making some of the process suggestions listed less relevant. However, it’s a good list to consider as inspiration for an end of day process that helps your team keep functionality and organisation daily, without any mess building up.

Have Good Recycling & Destruction Processes

Is your main office issue a buildup of waste and paperwork? If it is, and you have no need to store those items, it is a good idea to get your recycling and waste processes really streamlined. There should be a specific process for logging and storing waste before it is then destroyed or sent for recycling. The recycling and destruction should also be fully logged so that you have a paper trail should you receive an audit.

Deep Clean Regularly

It can help the whole team to have a sense of pride about the office if it is regularly deep cleaned. A professional deep clean cleanses the carpets, soft furnishings and communal areas. This makes the office smell lovely, feel better, and encourages everyone to maintain high standards of cleanliness and organisation day to day.

Incentivise Your Staff

An organised office comes from teamwork, and so it is important your team is on board with the organisation of the office. It is important that you have processes and procedures in place to help them understand what needs to be done day to day. However, what you can do to make things a bit more fun, is set organisation and decluttering challenges for your team, with some fun prizes as a reward. Prizes for tidiest desk, most improved etc could help your team feel excited about getting stuck in to doing their bit to keep the office in great shape.

Are You Ready To Organise Your Commercial Office?

With the tips above you’re ready to get your office in great shape. With better hygiene, functionality, organisation and waste processes you’ll have a better office aesthetic, and you’ll boost your brand image and team morale too.