Does your office suffer from organizational woes? I’m not talking about the typical corporate problem of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, of marketing not communicating with sales, and the technology department being at odds with the customer services reps (yet again!). I mean a more physical type of disorganization. The kind of thing that aggravates you just that teeny little bit every day—not enough to both mentioning or to justify action.
For instance, is the paper stored near the printer or in a far away supply closet? Is going to fetch that extra packet of paper from down the hall just one of those little aggravations that you sigh and overlook week after week? Does your chair pad (the plastic thing your chair rolls around on over a carpet) end just where your file cabinet begins so that every time you roll over there to get a file, there you go down over the bump, then you have to stand and lift the chair back onto the pad? What about your keyboard? Is it at the right height for you to type? Do you have all your reference materials at hand, or do you have to bend or stretch uncomfortably to reach them?
Experts say that hundreds of valuable man-hours are wasted each year because of improperly designed workspaces. These problems do not occur because of a flaw in technology or some essential lack in terms of supplies, they simply occur because people don’t realize that little things mean a lot. Often, we are so busy performing our tasks (and often so overworked!) that we don’t take time out to analyze our offices for superior productivity. We don’t place things where they can be most easily accessed and where our bodies encounter the least strain in doing so. While valuable time is lost through such disorganization, valuable money is also spent on worker’s compensation claims that arise from just such “small” overlooked items.
In order to have the most efficient offices, we need to take into account the need for convenience for the seated worker as well as the need for bodies to be in motion. Some items should actually be placed deliberately out of reach! Those wouldn’t be the ones in use every other minute, but those that are only accessed once a day or so. This requires the office worker to bend, stretch, walk, and move, thus reducing cramping and the fatigue of sitting. Organizing an efficient office is a complex matter that requires frequent re-evaluation of the use of the space. Those working in offices should stay in touch with any maintenance or other personal that could be useful in terms of moving furniture to ideal locations. As a worker, you want to be productive, yes, but most of all, you want your work day to feel efficient and smooth-moving. You want to feel like you are in control, and so much of that has to do with your immediate environment.
