War on Your Desk
Is Your Desk A War Zone?
Are you Inundated by information?
People today are inundated by information. Where ever someone goes, looks at or listens to, they are bombarded by messages of one kind or another. Some of it can be managed. The phone can be put down, email closed, TV and radio shut off. It is the stuff sent or given to us that truly clutters our lives.
Where ever someone goes, looks at or listens to, they are bombarded by messages of one kind or another. Some of it can be managed. The phone can be put down, email closed, TV and radio shut off. It is the stuff sent or given to us that truly clutters our lives.
New mail, reports on various clients or from different departments, business proposals, invoices, industry mailings, magazines and advertisements are just a part of what could find a place on your desk each day. In most cases, we all seem to be firefighters at work. We run from issue to client to meeting so often, the items on our desk are the last things we ever get to. If you string a few of those days together, your desk will disappear under mountains of paperwork.
Not having enough space in your primary work zone creates stress and increases the risk of injury. You may find yourself performing extended reaching, working in awkward postures and generally more fatigued. Inadequate leg clearance constricts movement and limits circulation. Monitor Screen clutter is also an issue and may contribute to eyestrain, neck strain and shoulder strain.
Disorganization of employees can cost companies thousands of dollars.
According to Fellows, It is estimated that an employee wastes an hour a day looking for misplaced items. If you estimate the cost based on a company with 100 employees, an average annual salary of $60,000, a 40-hour workweek and 2 weeks of vacation. The wasted time adds up to:
• $15,000 per week
• $65,000 per month
• $780,000 per year
43% of Americans categorize themselves as disorganized, and 21% have missed vital work deadlines. Nearly half say disorganization causes them to work late at least 2 or times each week.
Jane Von Bergen, “So many reasons to neaten up…”, Boston Globe 3/12/06
Esselte survey, David Lewis
So how do we fix the mess on our desks? Here are some ideas to get things moving in the right direction.
Here are some ideas to get things moving in the right direction. 
1. Place items most frequently used within minimal arms reach
2. Remove any items under your desk that impede your leg clearance
3. Time-block a section of time on your calendar and treat it like a meeting, the work on the desk would get the attention it needs and maybe save you some stress and maybe even your job. Pick Friday afternoons, this way when you walk in on Monday morning, you have a clean desk and know what the priorities are for that day.
4. Use the TV show “Clean Sweep” idea of three piles or containers. The “keep” pile is the one with all of the important paperwork that cannot be lost.
5. The “move” pile is for anything you want to take home or that another person could use. Magazines or other industry specific items that you might need to refer back to would go here. Use a drawer or plastic box to store these in and “move” the magazines there.
6. Everything else goes in the toss pile to be shredded, recycled or disposed of.
Unless that is the actual goal, the surface of your desk doesn’t have to be sterile and completely devoid of paper. The objective is to organize your desk so that it increases efficiency and decreases the risk of injury. If that means several neat piles on your desk, then so be it, as long as everything you keep helps you meet your goal of increased efficiency.
These are just a few ideas to help you streamline your work environment. These same concepts can work in your home as well.
Please respond and give me your opinion of these suggestions and I hope some of my faithful readers send in suggestions and tips of their own that work for them.
Photo Al Gore in his office (Steve Pyke for Time).
Tags: clutter, clutter clearing, clutter organization, cluttered, feng shui clutter, get rid of clutter, human ergonomics, office ergonomics
I couldn’t agree with you more. It is hard to work in limited space especially when there is so much “stuff” on the desk. I like the idea about setting some time to straighten things up and do nothing else. The statistic of lost work put it all into perspective. Thanks for the tips and I will be sending in one of mine, as soon as I can think of one. Which photo is Al Gore in?
i’ve always used or at combined “natural instinct” with logic at my work station”. paperwork
is piled right in front of my eyes! no where else! this way you want to process it to get it out of
your face!! i like phone and or computer to my left, this way my right hand is not impeded
in writing or moving papers. the pens, paper clips and stapler are at my far right. (plus i hold
the coffee cup in my right hand so you dont to bump into the phone or computer and spill it on your desk) if you’re left handed you may like this reversed) the papers are gone through first
thing, i read and return faxes and e-mails first, this way i’m not holdingup the people waiting for the responses and i’ve eliminated some clutter. nest paperwork is “organized” in to file folders!
not “PILES!” the folders are titled according to the processing system. as a salesman, mine said
“QUOTES!”, SOLD, “ORDERED” , “DELIVERED”, “COMPLETE” etc. the paperwork is moved from fron to back in this sequence. GO TO AN OFFICE SUPPLY STORE, walk the aisles and familairize
yourself with its contents. depending on the desk size, etc, you may need a desktop folder holder, or a file cabinet, which i prefer at my right. (i’ve always gone out and bought the tools and supplies i have needed, myself. for 20-50 dollars, me and my work are not going to suffer!
or be held up waiting for “COMPANY FUND APPROVAL”, because that approval paperwork is
“LOST ON SOMEBODY ELSE’S” PILE!” i had to go out and and buy my own file folders at a large
home improvement company because my departments sales were”UNDER BUDGET”
‘TAKE COMMAND OF YOUR LIFE! DON’T LEAVE IT IN SOMEONE ELSE’S COMPLACENT INCOMPETENCY!
paperwork belongs in “FOLDERS!” NOT PILES! it’s plain and simple, if you looked at a paper,
either you respond to it through fax phone or e-mail, notate as such and “FILE IT! in a FILE CABINET, not on your desk! (or a DESK TOP FOLDER ORGANIZER!) if you had to be told this,
YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HIRED TO BEGIN WITH! END OF CONVERSATION! GOOD_BYE!
i don’t believe in “ONE DESK FITS ALL” it’s up to the person using that desk or workstation
to experiment and find the method of “PAPER PROCESSING” that best suits him or her.
in keeping my input short and simple, i’m only going to highlight “THE CHAIR” itself.
find a chair that keeps your back fresh! it’s common knowledge that back pain causes the most discomfort in life. when you are uncomfortable or in pain or stiff, you’re distracted away from concentration and focus, plus you are probably going to find away to relieve the issues
through medication which compounds the loss of production. the proper chair is so cheap in comparison to not only the loss of “PRODUCTION” at work, but also the enjoyment of life itself.
i’ve gone out and bought my own chair for the the aforementioned issues whether i’m reimbursed or not! i gave up driving for my back! the human body was not “BUILT TO SIT!”
for any length of time, if at all! the first thing i inspect at a new workplace, is THE CHAIR!