Decluttering your working space could improve staff wellbeing and productivity
Two-thirds of UK workers wanted their desk area to be tidier With staff wellbeing high on the agenda, encouraging a decluttered and tidy working environment could be a way for employers to directly support their workforce, as new research reinforces the link between organisation and productivity. As part of National Organisation Week, design and printing firm Avery UK polled 2,000 UK adults to find strong evidence linking organised and decluttered working spaces with productivity and mental wellbeing. Whether its by filing important documents away, labelling files or decluttering their desk, eight in ten UK workers considered tidying and organising to be a powerful way to relieve stress at work. Almost two-thirds of respondents said an organised lifestyle, both at home and at work, helped with general health and wellbeing. Read more:?The ten most irritating office habits causing workplace conflict Despite the influence of mess and clutter on the nation?s productivity, and the negative impact of a disorganised workplace, two-thirds of workers?believed their office surroundings?needed to be tidier. Explaining the benefits of organisation and decluttering to employers and staff, Katherine Katherine Blackler, president of the Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers, said working together to target problem areas would help a team achieve its goals. ?In an office, you and your colleagues could be wasting valuable time looking for documents or important items, so it really is worth investing the time upfront to create better ways of working together efficiently,? she said. ?Make sure everything has its place and things don?t start to pile up. If you’re not a person who files as they go, give yourself a small tray or folder for collating documents into, but make sure you don’t go beyond that defined volume before you knuckle down and file it away where it belongs.? Commenting on the findings, Stephanie Davies, CEO of training consultancy Laughology, said the stress factors contributing to poor wellbeing were ?controllable and easy to fix.? ?Creating a working environment that works for you will increase productivity and how you engage with your work. This might mean you still have some of your quirky desk ornaments or papers around you, they’re just organised differently,? she explained. Avery UK produced a league table of the top 30 everyday tasks Brits find most therapeutic
Crossing stuff off a to-do list
Putting together a to-do list
Organising important personal documents
Vacuuming
Tidying my desk at work
Organising your storage
Making your bed
Washing the dishes
Cleaning the bathroom
Dusting/polishing my home
Mowing the lawn
Wiping kitchen worktops
Writing things on my calendar
Filing away documents at work
Ironing
Putting ironing away
Labelling files, folders or storage
Tidying my desk at home
Loading the washing machine
Organising CDs/vinyl alphabetically
Washing the car
Cleaning the inside of the car
Sorting through paperwork at work
Arranging wardrobe by colour, size and/or clothing type
Praseeda Nair is the editorial director of Business Advice, and its sister publication for growing businesses, Real Business. She's an impassioned advocate for women in leadership, and likes to profile business owners, advisors and experts in the field of entrepreneurship and management.
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