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Domestic chores: we all love to hate them. But keeping on top of your home becomes an essential and unmissable part of your home routine. So why treat the workplace any differently? Yes, you may like to bury your head in the sand when it comes to workplace cleanliness and tidiness, but this is one area that you need to start focusing on in order to maintain professionalism, high levels of productivity and presentability. Here are a few areas to focus on accompanied by examples of how maintaining them can help your business to thrive!
Clean Windows
Many people underestimate the importance of natural lighting in the workplace. Think about it: most office blocks have huge windows in every room. This isn’t mere coincidence. Employees are much more productive when they can see what they are doing without having to strain eyes in dimly lit spaces or squint in harsh artificial lighting. What’s more? Daylight is good for employee health. Studies have shown that those who work in rooms full of natural light get more hours of high-quality sleep at night than those in other environments. So, it’s important to keep the windows that allow this light into your office space squeaky clean. Whether your business space is on the ground floor or several floors up, you’re going to want to bring in some professionals in window cleaning to avoid smudges and smears. Opt for an accredited company or recommended self-employed individual. They will need to have a good working knowledge of safety as well as good skills and technique to leave windows perfectly clear.
Encourage all employees to keep their desks neat and tidy. Yes, it may not influence anyone else if one employee’s desk is scattered with papers, staplers, paperclips, mugs and empty water glasses, but a clear space will encourage each individual worker to be more productive. A clear desktop will mean that a spilled drink or unexpected gust of air won’t result in mayhem and disaster. To help encourage tidiness, ensure that your office space has desks with plenty of storage space where items that aren’t in use constantly can be stored, along with personal belongings. Add a small rack of paper organizing shelves or a letter tray to each desk too. This will encourage orderliness which will result in fewer lost documents.
Clear Floors
It is absolutely essential that floors aren’t scattered with personal belongings such as bags or professional items such as boxes of stock or stores of paper. Why? Well, not only does it make the office look unprofessional and messy, but loose items also pose a serious health and safety risk. So, before your staff go tripping over and filing a lawsuit against you, offer a storage space for personal bags. This could be a specific room with designated hooks on the walls or a simple locker system in which each employee has their designated locker and key.
These are just a few reasons to keep your office space neat and tidy, but there are never ending steps that you can take towards improving the workplace environment for your, your staff and your profit’s benefit.
