Often when I tell people that I am a Professional Organizer they say “oh you shouldn’t see where I work!”, because their place of employment is messy and disorganized.
This is a common problem with many workplaces, especially those that are non-profits that have a lot of volunteers coming through all the time!
The problem?
There are too many minds contributing to the chaos! Everyone has a different way of doing things, and it’s hard to keep thing organized if there isn’t a true system in place to keep things tidy.
Imagine how streamlined and efficient your workplace could be if there was an organized environment for staff to follow!
1. Do an audit/inventory of what you have in storage.
Maybe you work at a retail store, or a restaurant, or an office space. Wherever it is, usually the back office and storage spaces are the areas that are chaotic and messy - the areas that are out of a customer’s view!
Go through your items in storage and see what is actually worth keeping. There may be promotional materials that are completely outdated, expired products, damaged or worn out supplies etc.
Get everyone involved and see what people actually use, and what items are irrelevant.
Be ruthless with what you have – you don’t need to be keeping large items that you know you’ll never use again, just because they were expensive or useful at one time. Unless they have a use in the future, they need to go! Businesses are always changing and growing, so your storage space needs to reflect that.
2. Sort like with like.
Often there are things being stored in multiple areas, because staff and volunteers don’t know where the proper “home” is – or maybe there wasn’t one to begin with!
When going through your items, sort like with like, and make sure to put those similar items together when you are organizing your shelves and cupboards. Put all cleaning supplies together, all kitchen items in the kitchen area, all paper products together, and electronic equipment in one area.
3. Find the best home for those items.
You don’t want to just place things anywhere – you want to be mindful about it! Put items close to where they are used, or wherever makes sense and is obvious for all staff and volunteers to see and access. You don’t want it to be a scavenger hunt when someone needs something quickly.
If things are used very frequently, they should not be put away in a cupboard - instead they should be on open shelving, or on a countertop. Having that extra step of opening a cupboard can really cut down on the efficiency of something
4. Label things!
Having labels on shelves, drawers, or boxes may not look pretty, but they are essential for a space that is accessed by multiple people in a workplace.
This will ensure that things are put away correctly, because people can follow the directions of the label, and will also help people find where things are in general.
5. Get everyone on board.
You don’t want all your hard work to go to waste! Make sure you take time with all your staff and volunteers to give them a tour. People will have a better time understanding and remembering the layout if they see everything visually. And make sure to let them know to ask you for guidance if they don’t know where something goes, and be approachable about it! You don’t want them to stick an item just anywhere, because they feel intimidated to ask where something goes.
6. Bonus tip! Remove excess packaging.
Likely in whatever workplace you are, there is an excess amount of packaging on the items that come into your place. Whether it’s products, office supplies or maintenance supplies.
When you get items shipped to you, remove if from the cardboard box immediately and unpack the items onto their organized shelf – that way you always know how much of a product you have left!
Rip off the top flaps on a box that you want to keep the product in – those flaps can become a barrier to access the product, and also limit your ability to see inside it, to know how much is left.
What do you think? Could your workplace use a declutter?
Send me an email if you want to book an assessment! adeilah@jigsaworgsolutions.com
