Tidy Workplace, Tidy Mind: How Order Affects Productivity

A tidy workplace is a productive workplace. Not only does clutter set a bad impression for clients and visitors, it can be a distraction for your staff. A tidy workplace is not just about having tidy desks, and removing clutter from areas visited by clients, it should also include keeping any outdoor areas, staff rooms and even cupboards neat and tidy.

Why should desks be kept tidy?

Whilst many people usually do keep their desk tidy, there are plenty of others who do not.
They may understand their own filing system of organised chaos, however if they are absent from work, it can make it incredibly difficult for somebody else to find vital pieces of paperwork.
Tools like letter trays with in and out workflows make a desk environment an incredibly productive space.
Taking this a step further with a clean desk policy will not only prevent staff being distracted by things they are not currently working on, it will save time when trying to locate paperwork, or anything else that may be kept on the desk.

Why keep cupboards clean?

When your staff can’t find the equipment they need to do their job, not only is time wasted when looking for the equipment, further time will be spent by them complaining about it.
Furthermore, if the item isn’t found, more time (and money) will be wasted in going out to buy something that you may already own.
This doesn’t mean you need to catalogue all of your stationary in alphabetical order, it just means that things should be kept visible and easy to find.
The pictures above show some good examples of storage from the Irish Sprinkler area within the newly refurbished Damastown offices. As you can see from the Cad sketch, the guys even went to the trouble of planning the internal layout of the cupboards before they started to fill them.
However, many of our offices are not as organised as this and we have all been guilty in the past of having cardboard boxes under the desk with those “important” things that we just have to keep close by.

We should all think back to the 5S system, one of the first tools most people come across when introduced to the Lean process.

Sort:
If you haven’t used it recently, chances are you won’t need it for a while, so put it in a more suitable location.

Set in order:
Set out the items you use regularly so they are easily accessible when you go to use them.

Shine:
Keep those items and your work area clean and tidy

Standardise:
Find a system that works for you and use it consistently

Sustain:
Don’t slip back into your old habits……stick with your new system

Work still gets done, but it is inefficient, dangerous, looks unprofessional and gives no satisfaction to the person carrying out the task. If you take on board the 5S principles, you can maintain a tidy environment regardless of how much equipment you need to use to complete your tasks. The picture below shows a compact workshop with lots of equipment, but everything is still in its place and the area is neat and tidy and well lit.