A clean office is a successful office – no two ways about it in today’s corporate world. An organized workspace can act like a productivity booster and play a colossal role in uplifting your company’s reputation.
You know, a polluted and chaotic work environment can barely project its professional image to the clients or customers. On the contrary, a properly maintained office reflects that you value your business and leaves an indelible impression on the clients.
No wonder, cleanliness in office is given the utmost priority by companies as they have their prestige at stake. They know, apart from focusing on creative marketing strategies, aggressive promotion and seductive sales, the atmosphere around the workspace also plays a big role in the success of the company.
Clean Office and Employee Motivation
You can find a series of ways to motivate your employees – they can be monetary rewards or some kind of stress managing programs. But, if you take a look at it, from a broader spectrum, the first and foremost thing required to motivate your staff is “showing them that they are valued.” How would you do this? Well, obviously, all the rewards that I mentioned above will come into play, but besides that, the working environment that you create for them is equally crucial.
Keep Health Issues at bay:
Cleanliness improves people’s sense of wellbeing and fosters a healthy environment. It also eradicates all the health hazards that can rise due to the dirt and dust bunnies lurking in your office. A dirty space can invite a gamut of bacterial enemies, such as vermin, germs and other lethal micro-organisms, which are extremely hazardous to you and your staff.
As a matter of fact, germs thrive in stuffy and warm surfaces, so it is outright essential to have a nice ventilation system.
When you have a well organized office, your employees will feel safe and satisfied knowing that they are not prone to any diseases.
Chuck out the Clutter:
According to the survey held by firm Adecco, 57% of American people have judged a co-worker based on the state of his or her workspace. A clean desk sends the message that s/he is organized while a messy one says that the rest of his/her life is in a similar condition.
So, by having an organized workspace, s/he is commonly perceived as a prepared and organized individual.
If your staff can easily locate their files, inhale fresh air or use a clean restroom, it will certainly pay off pretty soon. Just like we discussed earlier, there is a direct relationship between clutter and productivity – via psychology. When there is a chaotic working environment, the efficiency and effectiveness of your staff vanishes. They can hardly focus in such messy environments, and in certain instances, it can even lead to labor turnover.
In an untidy office, staff may feel like they are continuously doing an obstacle course, and as a result, it leaves the workers with no interest to make an effort. There are many people (including myself) that find it extremely tough to accomplish the chore when surrounded by clutter.
According to the research done by Office Depot,
61% of people claim the biggest frustration with their disorganized workspace is that they can’t find what they need quickly.
Clutter is the culprit:
As “Stress Awareness Month” is just around the corner, i.e. April, knowing some de-stressing ways won’t hurt! After getting fooled and rattled on the very first day, the remaining days are all about reducing the stress to lead a productive life.
If you are also willing to enhance the productivity of your organization, you can’t afford to overlook the importance of a clean working environment. A healthy workspace can gain more productive minds enabling them to perform their respective tasks more efficiently. FYI, clutter can only help add to the stress of the daily grind, reducing the level of productivity.
Below are some of the major reasons why you need to de-clutter your workspace right away:
– When your eye sees messes all around, it bombards your mind with excessive stimuli (visual, tactile, olfactory). It will cause your senses to work overtime on stimuli, which is not important.
– Clutter distracts you by drawing your attention away from the important stuff.
– A glimpse of messes makes you anxious. This is because you are never sure what it’s going to take to get to the bottom of the pile.
– Clutter develops feelings of guilt. When there are messes around, you constantly hear the nagging inner voice forcing you to organize your space. However, if your workspace is properly managed, you don’t have to inhale the guilt of something else that you should be doing at that particular moment.
– Clutter is a powerful force and it always stops you from moving forward.
– Clutter restrains creativity and productivity by occupying the open spaces that allow you to think and brain storm.
– Clutter can frustrate by preventing you from locating what you need at that very moment. E.g. Files lost in the pile, misplaced key, to mention a few.
The average office employee spends 6 weeks per year looking for something.
(Source: Organizedworld.com)
Clean Office Attracts More Visitors
When potential customers visit your office premises, they will certainly judge your company based on what they see. Be it a bathroom, floor, doors, reception, lunch room, lobby, desks or even landscaping, the visitors will notice each and every thing.
Just stuffing your office with some extravagant pieces of furniture or other decorative items will not serve the purpose. Cleanliness, organization and maintenance- all should be prioritized equally. If your workspace offers a poor visual display, it will surely disappoint your clients and lead to potential liability of your company. So, in order to avoid such situations, you need to create a high productive environment keeping dirt and odor at bay.
Bottom line is – office cleanliness is second to none when it comes to increasing the productivity of your employees and enticing potential customers.
