Is your desk buried under piles of files and documents, making it impossible to find anything? It's time to tidy up to save time and increase efficiency.
A disorganized workspace fosters stress, demotivation, and wasted time. Conversely, a tidy workspace promotes productivity, concentration, creativity, and well-being.
Discover in this article the best tips for having an organized and inspiring office , as well as its advantages.
Why is it important to organize your office?
Improved productivity and time management
If you ever find yourself searching for a document for hours, it's time to reorganize your desk!
A cluttered desk wastes time, day after day. A report from the International Data Corporation shows that employees lose an average of 2.5 hours a day searching for information, representing about 30% of their working time. According to the National Association of Professional Organizations, this translates to 4.3 hours lost per week searching for misplaced papers.
Conversely, a well-organized workspace reduces the time spent searching for essential items , as well as interruptions and distractions . Your important tools are within easy reach, streamlining the process and maintaining your productivity.
Reduced distractions and improved mental clarity
Whether you are working remotely or in the office, an organized workspace avoids unnecessary distractions and helps you stay focused .
A cluttered desk creates cognitive overload that disrupts your mental clarity . In fact, a study from Princeton University draws a parallel between physical and mental clutter. Every superfluous or poorly arranged item captures your attention and prevents you from focusing on your current tasks.
By eliminating the unnecessary, you can process information, make decisions, and solve problems more effectively .
Increased motivation and creativity
A well-organized environment is more inspiring and motivating . It makes people want to work and helps them adopt a proactive attitude. According to the University of Exeter , this can increase your productivity by 15% and your satisfaction by 65% .
Taking care of your desk, that is to say keeping it tidy and personalizing it according to your tastes, helps to stimulate your creativity.
Stress reduction and positive effect on well-being at work
The organization of your office impacts your physical and mental well-being at work . Research from Cornell University shows that employees with an organized work environment experience 51% less eye strain and 63% fewer headaches.
Where disorder breeds stress and chaos, order brings serenity. A tidy office therefore reduces chronic stress, anxiety, and burnout caused by constantly searching for documents and the frustration of feeling ineffective.
Strengthening your credibility and professionalism
Finally, keeping your desk tidy demonstrates your credibility and professionalism . It reflects your seriousness and inspires confidence in your superiors, colleagues, and clients.
This positive image can ultimately create valuable career opportunities and business relationships. Furthermore, having a spotless office reinforces feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction.
On the contrary, a messy desk sends the opposite signals. This sign of neglect can be perceived as a lack of rigor and efficiency.
12 tips for organizing your office efficiently
If you were to choose just one method for effectively organizing your office , it would be the Kaizen or 5S method . Originating in Japan, this visual management technique aims to ensure the organization and cleanliness of work environments.
It consists of 5 steps :
- Seiri = Sorting: start by taking inventory of everything around you and separating the essential from the unnecessary. Put away or throw away what you use less or not at all.
- Seiton = Organize: organize according to your frequency of use. Keep the essentials within easy reach.
- Seiso = Clean: your desk must be clean. Remember to clean the work surface, but also the screens, keyboards…
- Seiketsu = Standardize: this involves establishing a routine with simple and clear standards for storage and maintenance.
- Shitsuke = Support/Discipline: maintain the pace over time.
1. Declutter your office by getting rid of unnecessary items
The first step is to sort through your office to get rid of the excess .
You can divide all the items into several boxes: “Keep” for useful items, “Throw away” for unnecessary items, and “To consider” for items you use less frequently. To help you sort through everything, you can ask yourself when you last used the item. The 90-day rule is a good example of this. If you haven't used the item in question during that time, its necessity is probably questionable.
Throw away what you don't need, store essential items nearby, and store or archive what is more uncertain elsewhere.
2. Keep only the essentials within easy reach
Following this initial sorting, you will have identified the essential items you use daily. These should be stored within easy reach on your desk or in built-in storage units to optimize accessibility.
However, keep the number of items on your work surface to a minimum to avoid visual distractions. In addition to your computer, keep a few pens, your planner, a notebook, your phone, and active files nearby.
For items and papers that you use, but less regularly, keep them close by, but a little further away.
This hierarchical approach to storage helps prevent you from having to get up constantly.
3. Make room for everything
Whether it's on your desk, in your drawers, cupboards or shelves, make sure you have a place for everything .
Your office organization needs to be carefully considered. Assign a specific place for each item , such as your supplies, documents, and accessories. Don't hesitate to use labeled boxes to easily find what you're looking for.
These automated processes will greatly simplify your daily work life.
4. Define functional areas
Facilitate the distribution and organization of objects by defining functional areas such as, for example, computer work, writing, reading.
This is known as the principle of micro-zoning , reserving a dedicated space for each activity . This functional segmentation improves your productivity by adapting the layout of the workspace according to the requirements of each task.
Furthermore, transitions between different activities are facilitated, as your brain assimilates each area as specific to one activity.
5. Use appropriate storage solutions
This may seem like the basics for an organized workspace, but make sure you use storage that suits your needs .
Desks with built-in storage offer additional storage space accessible without getting up. Indeed, some things need to be within easy reach, but not in plain sight. In this case, you can place them in one of your desk's drawers.
If your office lacks storage, consider drawers and mobile pedestals , as well as modular storage systems . Offering great flexibility, they allow you to customize your storage space to suit your evolving professional needs.
For archives, opt for cabinets, secure or not, further away from your work table.
6. Don't neglect wall space
To save space, don't neglect wall storage solutions such as shelves or organizers. Indeed, we often forget to utilize vertical space .
Wall shelves allow you to free up your work surface from certain documents, books, supplies or even decorative objects.
Using wall art is also a good idea. You could, for example, hang the following on your walls:
- a magnetic board to attach notes and sticky notes to keep crucial information within sight.
- a perforated wall board for attaching pots or small shelves, very useful for organizing your supplies.
- a corkboard to pin your to-do lists or schedules.
7. Invest in smart accessories
Beyond furniture, there are accessories that facilitate organization .
Desk and drawer organizers offer multiple compartments for storing supplies in an organized way. Place your pens and highlighters in a pencil holder rather than loose on your work surface.
A monitor stand allows you to position your monitor at an ideal height, which promotes better posture, but also offers additional storage space.
You can also use filing boxes and magazine racks to organize your documents. Consider organizing them by topic or chronologically. Storage boxes also allow you to sort your items by theme without visually cluttering your workspace. For added clarity and to save time, you can label them.
8. Sort and classify the documents
The sorting and classification of documents deserves a chapter of its own.
Whether they are paper or digital documents, they should be filed regularly.
For your paper documents , accessories such as binders, document holders, or archive boxes allow for optimized storage. Consider disposing of unnecessary papers using a shredder. Most administrative documents can be discarded or destroyed after 5 years.
Digitization also saves space and facilitates organization and accessibility . Therefore, digitize documents that do not need to be printed.
If paper documents clutter your workspace, the same is true for digital documents . Don't accumulate documents and folders on your computer desktop. Create folders and subfolders to organize your documents in designated places. Name each folder and document clearly. Avoid the stress of losing documents by regularly backing them up to a USB drive, an external hard drive, or online storage services such as Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or Google Drive.
Do the same with your emails. Create folders for each client and archive messages that can be archived.
9. Organize the cables for a clean space
The tangled, messy cables clutter the office and quickly give an impression of disorder.
Be aware that there are cable management systems, cable organizers, fixing clips, and cable trays to organize and conceal them securely.
This makes your workspace cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing, and more functional. Furthermore, this tip helps prevent accidents and simplifies the maintenance of electronic equipment.
10. Personalize without overloading
While you should avoid cluttering your workspace, you can still personalize it to a limited extent . The key is to find the right balance to add a personal touch without creating visual distractions.
Personalizing your workspace contributes to your well-being and helps you feel a sense of ownership over your workplace. Try to create a space that reflects your personality, inspires you, and motivates you.
You can, therefore, hang some photos, paintings or posters with inspiring quotes on the walls.
Consider adding plants, as greenery improves air quality and productivity. It reduces stress and dampens ambient noise.
Also, choose colours that are both motivating and inspiring.
11. Think ergonomically
Ergonomics is also an important aspect of organizing your workspace, as it helps to preserve your health and professional performance.
Opt for ergonomic furniture that encourages good posture, such as the Bloon exercise ball chair .
Adjust your furniture to the correct height so that both feet are flat on the floor and your knees and elbows form a 90° angle. Your screen should be at eye level, 50 to 70 cm away, to avoid eye strain.
Don't neglect lighting for your visual comfort either. Prioritize natural light as much as possible and supplement it with a desk lamp.
12. Create a tidying routine
Implementing all these tips to organize your office is good, but keeping it tidy in the long term is even better.
Therefore, you need to establish a tidying routine :
- Tidy up your work surface for a few minutes at the end of the day.
- Sort your documents and clean surfaces once a week.
- Empty your trash (both physical and computer-based) regularly.
- Schedule thorough tidying sessions every month or quarter.
Conclusion
Organizing your office not only saves space , but also time and increases efficiency .
With our 12 tips, you can create a functional and inspiring workspace to promote your well-being and productivity.
