January is National Organization Month. There’s no better time to get your ducks in a row or to get your desk in order.
Office workers are about evenly split between being neat freaks and clutter bugs. That’s the finding from a survey released in 2005 by Ajilon Office, a professional staffing firm in Saddle Brook, N.J.
The survey also uncovered what the state of your desk may reveal about your personality. Some highlights:
Women claim to be more organized. Fifty-six percent of women claim to keep their space organized, versus only 42 percent of men. And, nearly twice the number of women than men considers themselves neat freaks.
Northeasterners are more organized than their Western, Central, and Southern colleagues with 59 percent of them keeping their spaces streamlined. Only 50 percent of those in the Central U.S., 48 percent of Southerners, and 46 percent of Westerners say the same.
The older you get, the messier you become. Whereas 60 percent of 18-24 year olds keep their spaces organized, only 36 percent of workers ages 55-64 claim the same.
“Maybe you like clean, empty spaces or perhaps you work better when your assignments are in clear view. Some people work best in a controlled clutter environment,” says Neil Lebovits, president and COO of Ajilon Office.
“As long as you are productive and in control of your tasks, the appearance of your desk doesn’t play a factor in many work environments,” says Lebovits.
But your workspace could influence what clients and colleagues think about you.
“In the office, your desk is an extension of yourself and how you work,” says Lebovits. “A clean and streamlined workspace makes a good impression and gives off the aura of being in control,”
For small-business owners who want to streamline their workspaces, Ajilon Office offers these steps to organization:
Sort: From the papers on your desk to your Outlook inbox, create folders according to project and urgency.
File: Develop a low-maintenance filing system which allows you to file away old projects and keep pending assignments on hand. Once a week, go through the most frequently used folders and make sure they’re not overflowing. Use the same process to clean out e-mails.
Set Spaces: Section off your office space so that everything has its correct place. This way, videos won’t be teetering on piles of newspapers and pens won’t find their way into filing cabinets.
Purge: Schedule weekly office clean-ups every Friday. Throw out everything that you won’t need on Monday. Once a month, give your workspace a major tune-up. Toss all old newspapers, magazines, reports and drafts of projects that have been completed.
There are plenty of tools to help you get – and stay – organized. Check out a few of these at any major office supply retailer:
Mobile file carts and wall-mount systems to handle all sizes of paperwork
Stackable storage boxes for archiving old files you need to keep
Desktop systems that keep important files at your fingertips
Traditional file cabinets in various heights and widths
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(Posted January 2006)
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