As a business owner, you’ve probably exhausted your brain trying to figure out ways to get the most productivity out of your employees. Here’s one idea you might have overlooked: encouraging a clean work environment.
Despite recent studies that aim to support a messy desk, there’s no arguing that a cluttered desk creates a cluttered mind. If you’re looking to improve your employee’s A game, here are 5 reasons to look at their desks.
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Messy desk, messy mind
Walking into a cluttered office desk creates a stressful day from the get-go. You feel like you’re behind before the days even started. To combat this, try encouraging employees to organize and clean up their desks the day before.
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Clutter causes distractions
We’ve all been there. You’re working in flow when all of a sudden you look over and see something else you need to do. All of a sudden your mind is miles away from the task at hand and you’re in a rabbit hole of another task. By eliminating clutter on your desk, you can focus only on what you’re doing. Thus increasing your productivity.
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Lowers self-confidence
Research done by the University of Chicago Press shows that disorganization makes us feel like we no longer have control over our lives. This creates a self-defeating work environment where employees will give up on tasks halfway through. Even when they are able to push through, the work they produce is generally subpar.
Having a clean desk helps create a sense of control that leads to increased self-confidence. You’ll get better work from an employee that is happy and confident!
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Creates false judgments
As much as we like to see we don’t judge, we do. It’s an innate human response to stimuli. A study even showed that 57% of employees and leadership judge their coworkers by the state of their desk.
If you have a shared office space, the state of your employee’s desk affects the productivity of everyone else around them. Not to mention, knowing that others are judging your mess can lower your self-confidence – which as we know, can lead to decreased productivity.
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Tasks take a little bit longer
When you have a messy desk, part of your day is spent just looking for things. You have to dig through the piles of paper to find the one that you need only to realize it’s actually in a drawer. You have to constantly rearrange the mess just to find the sticky note with that contacts number on it.
By enforcing cleanliness and order in your office, you’ll create more time to get the tasks done that really matter.
3 Tips For a Clean Desk
By this point, you hopefully understand the purpose of a clean desk. But you may still be wondering how exactly you keep it clean. Here are our experts 3 tips!
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Go digital!
Let’s face it. Everything is going digital as it is. You might as well jump on board! Start scanning and saving documents on your computer in an organized system. It’ll reduce the amount of paper you have laying around and makes it easier to find information right when you need it!
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Stay on top of it.
Maintaining a clean, organized space takes daily effort. Mess attracts mess! Remind yourself throughout the day to put everything back in its home once you’re done using it. If the day’s just too busy for that, at the very least, put everything back at the end of the day. And lead by example! Your employees will follow.
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Opt for smaller office desks.
Simply put, less space for clutter means less clutter. Limiting the amount of space to put things forces your employees to find alternative places to store things. You lose the ability to plop office files on your desk if there is no room to put them!
That said, be sure you supply an organized and well-labeled area for them to file away their documents and papers.
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Create coworking spaces.
If your employees know that they’re having to share space, they’ll be more likely to keep it clean. Plus, 2019 office design trends are leaning more towards resimerical design anyways. Your employees want their offices to feel more like home! Just not so much so that they leave it a mess. It’s still a professional working space after all!
Reclaim the Productivity in Your Office
Messy desks can lead to stress, distractions, lower self-confidence, judgment, and even take away valuable time. If you’re looking to increase office productivity, try enforcing a no-clutter rule! Encourage employees to utilize their computer memory and stay on top of cleaning.
As an employer, you can provide them with smaller desks and more coworking spaces. Once you do, we are sure the efficiency in your office will dramatically improve!
Looking for Office Furniture in Indianapolis?
You’ve come to the right place! iSpace Office Interiors offers interior design, ergonomic analysis, and FREE space planning. We will help you design an office that best suits your business. Give us a call at (317) 694-7197, get a quote, or head into our office at 6830 Industry Drive C, Indianapolis, IN 46219.
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