Storage Resolutions for the New Year

As the New Year rolls in, many people not only make personal resolutions but professional ones too. Popular resolutions include getting on top of their inbox, sorting all their business cards, finally launching their start-up idea, or among the most fruitful projects for any firm: organizing company storage. While sorting through items may not offer that frisson of joy offered by reaching inbox zero, organizing physical space can have both monetary payoffs and health benefits for your entire business.

Here are eight ways to start organizing your company offices this year.

1. Reduce Office Clutter

Personal touches are nice, but when cubicles begin to look like a tangled jungle of vines and photos, it may be time to set guidelines. Offer your employees the necessary tools and accessories they need to organize their office spaces. With more boxes, more file folders, and more paper clips on hand for employees, your business workspace will also have less clutter.

2. Behind the Scenes Matters Too 

Nobody wants to get clobbered opening an office closet, or need to wield a sword to reach the upper echelons of the storeroom. Get rid of the (figurative) skeletons in the office closets. Start by purging excess and unnecessary items, and be sure to add labels to everything else that stays.

3. Encourage Employees to Take Stock 

Employees should take critical stock of their offices and inventory in case there is someone with 400 pencils and 20 staples in their desk drawer. According to a recent study "Does Work Stress Lead to Office Clutter, and How?," work stress causes indecision, and that "was expected to increase office clutter, which itself is a physical stressor." Ask your employees to reduce their personal office clutter to increase productivity.

4. Reduce Electronic Clutter

How can you feel good about coming to work in the morning if your inbox has 1,200 unread missives? With a loaded email inbox, the distraction and high number can make it difficult to get anything done. Consider instituting an hour of no meetings for employees to deal with their email.

5. Institute Clear Decision Making

According to the Harvard Business Review, overloaded email ties to a larger issue, namely "a lack of clear and effective protocols." "If your organization has ambiguous decision-making processes and people don't get what they need from their colleagues, they'll flood the system with email and meeting requests," David Allen, a consultant and author, tells HBR. Institute a clear decision-making process so people keep email and meeting requests in check.  

6. Go Green for Lunch 

Tired of all those plastic containers piling up in the office sink? Have your cafeteria go green, with biodegradable and earth-friendly lunch ware. Offer clear and easy solutions for recycling and composting food scraps. It will help employees connect to the values of their workplace. You could expand the idea by rethinking caterers as well — does the firm supplying those free Friday lunches use green approaches or recyclable containers? It's worth asking.

7. Giveaway Giveaways

Hardly anyone in an office really uses the conference swag they have gathered over time. Branded folders, phone cases, and flash drives often end up at the bottom of drawers. Consider providing or obtaining alternate conference swag, like gift cards, lotteries, and Instagram posts — which create no clutter at all. In fact, millennials value life experiences — meals, lectures, travels — over stuff. Take a note from millennials in your organization and follow their example.

8. Bring in the Professionals

Instead of managing all of your clutter, consider hiring an outside consultant to help people strategize, organize, and be free from the stressful, space-consuming clutter. Once your workspace is organized, you may also need to have a place to store items that are important to your business yet do not need to be kept in the workspace area. PODS commercial solutions are a convenient storage service for businesses since we offer secure on-site containers and access to storage facilities nationwide to safely and conveniently store your additional goods.

Keep Your storage Resolution with PODS

Whether it was inspired by a New Year’s resolution or not, keeping an office organized should be a top priority for all companies. That’s because a cleaner workspace can help everyone focus better on what's important: work. By following the steps outlined above and by seeking the support of a partner like PODS to declutter your office for the new year, your organization will be far more productive and healthier in the months to come. 

Learn more about the business storage solutions we offer small startup companies to and enterprises.

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