Tips to Spring Clean Your Office

Traditionally, springtime is the season to clean and declutter your home. Why not use the traditional spring clean as an opportunity to tidy your office space too? Shake off the winter and make a positive new start at work.

A 2012 survey by Adecco revealed how important a tidy desk is for your career.

73% of the Americans surveyed think they are most productive when their workspaces are clean. Not only does the “tidy desk, tidy mind” mentality help with productivity, but how you keep your desk influences how other people think of you.

The Adecco research revealed that 57% of those surveyed admitted to having judged co-workers on how clean or dirty they keep their workspaces.

What’s more, 42% said they regarded a co-worker more negatively if their workspace is dirty and a worrying 33% think messy employees are lazy employees.

Tips for a fast, effective spring clean

If your desk is piled with papers, your paper and computer filing system is a mess and your monitor is covered in sticky notes, it’s likely this clutter is a drag on your productivity.

• Start with your desk space

Unstick those post-its, make a record of useful information contained on them in the right place, and throw them away. As you dig through them, you may be surprised how many are no longer relevant!

Remember your desktop is not a storage space. File loose papers. Clear the top drawer of your desk for your stationary and move it off the desktop. Give your whole desk a good wipe down with antibacterial spray to clean and freshen – then keep it tidy!

If your desk clutter has spread to the floor, clear away all papers and bags and find a proper home for them where they aren’t getting in your way and creating a bad impression.

• Get your filing organized

If you can, add a paper filing system to one of your drawers, so you can put your hands on any paper documents you need quickly.

If you find yourself with more than one notepad on the go at once, why not splash out and treat yourself to a new one that you’ll look after properly.

This way, your notes will be in order and easier to find when you need them. If you take paper notes a lot, you might find bullet journaling a good way to keep your notes in order.

Digital hygiene

Don’t forget to organize your electronic files too:

• Keep the files on your electronic desktop to a minimum and create folders to organize them.
• Delete those files from your computer that you can defensibly delete.
• Uninstall apps you no longer use and ensure those you are using are up to date.
• Run a disk cleanup utility to free up space on your hard drive and improve computer performance.
• Run a system-wide virus scan.
• Check that your backups are working as they should. You may need to change backup settings if you’ve added apps or file systems since you set up the backup program.
• Give your hardware a clean; when was the last time you cleaned your keyboard? Use computer-friendly cleaning wipes to clean and disinfect surfaces, keyboard, monitors, mouse, cables, etc.