Top Tips for a Tidy Desk

There is nothing worse than walking int the office on a Monday morning to be confronted with your desk covered in a mound of papers that you didn’t clear away on Friday. You know that your computer keyboard is somewhere under the mountain of files, but you have no idea where. So instead you slink off to the kitchen and make yourself a nice cup of coffee. Once back at your desk you face the prospect of spending most of the morning sorting through your desk and will then have to work through your lunch hour to catch up on the work you have missed.

A common Monday morning scenario

This scenario is all too common in offices across the country. The chances are that the management have enlisted the help of office cleaning Cheltenham firm http://intocleaning.co.uk/services/office-cleaning/ to ensure that the office area is cleaned regularly but who is going to do your desk.

Tips for keeping your desk tidy

Well, here are some handy tips to help keep your desk nice and tidy:

• Keep all the important items that you need close at hand such as your pens, stapler, calculator and any other items specific to your job. If it isn’t something that you use regularly throughout the day then it doesn’t need to have a place on your desk – unless of course it is something on sentimental value such as a picture of your partner or a drawing created especially for you by your children, or in my case a picture of my cats.
• Use a coaster for your drinks. Now in my opinion this is a good piece of advice in general but when it comes to drinks in the office the last thing you need is an important document having a tea ring stain on it because you forgot to wipe the bottom of the mug when you left the office. This goes for water too!

• Do you really need all those paper copies? Basically, think before you print do you need to have all the paper copy documents on our desk. If you need to be looking at document whilst writing another report perhaps consult with your line manager about the possibility of having dual screens. If you do need paper copies of documents makes sure that you file them away in whatever way suits you and your daily needs, whether this is a filing cabinet or traditional ring bound folders on a shelf.
• If you write yourself lots of little notes to remember things take a look at some of the note apps that you can have on your computer than display the notes on your computer home screen or invest in a noticeboard that you can put up to prevent all those little bits of paper from flying around your desk as you inevitably end up losing the one with the important information on it.

Summary

This article looks at the common problem of a cluttered desk at work, describing how a messy pile of paperwork can slow down a Monday morning. It suggests keeping frequently used items close at hand, questioning whether printed copies are really necessary, and considering dual screens as an alternative to paper documents.

Questions this article raises

• How often should a desk be properly decluttered?
• What filing system works best for reducing paper build-up?
• Do dual screens really cut down on printing in most offices?