8 Ways to a More Organised, Sustainable Office for Better Productivity

Whether you're returning to your workplace, or staying put in your home office, we all just want simple ways we can be more organised that'll help us work better.

Piles of paperwork that just builds and builds; old notes or drafts left lying around; losing pen after pen; we're all guilty of it, and when things get lost and clutter builds, it also clutters the mind.

So, we have some ideas to help you get more work done - better and more sustainably, at home, or to make an efficient transition back to the office.

Set Up a Clean Working Space

After working from home so long, it'll take some time to get back into the swing of working in the office.  Everything starts with having an organised working space to set you up for motivation and better productivity - and get you home sooner for a work-life balance!

There are a few simple tricks to not only setting up a clean working space, but keeping it organised and tidy (let's face it - the latter is the harder part!)

• Use cable organisers to keep your cords tidy - it'll help you set up quicker each morning too if you take your laptop home at night, or are hot-desking. 

Standard binder clips can make great cord holders to keep your cords in place and tangle-free!

Or, our friends at MACO have some well-designed reusable solutions to keep your cords tidy and your desk looking stylish too! 

• Stackable trays are always handy to keep messy piles of paperwork tidy and easy to locate
• Drawer dividers keep stationery in check for you to use when you need it, and not having to dig around for it, wasting time (and stops passersby taking the pens you leave on your desk!!)

Or, if your office has a hot desking system in place, put only the items you need on your desk, so you always know where your pens, notebooks, and belongings are - and it also makes packing up at the end of the day quicker, easier, and less stressful ("where's my phone?!").

The Paper Saver Reusable Notebook and Organiser help you repurpose your used paper as notebook pages for writing notes, while also staying organised by keeping your stationery and essentials in one place, at your desk or on-the-go.

Stay Hydrated

Our friends at Rolla Bottle have a great reusable water bottle option that's also collapsible, make it easy to always have in your bag, so that you always refill and have water readily available whilst working (who is guilty of depriving themselves of water just because the walk to the office kitchen was too far away?🙋).

Being well-hydrated also helps improve your sleep quality and overall mood for the day, so it's a win-win!

Flexible Working Hours

You have already heard that many people want flexible working conditions. Apart from parents who need this to manage school runs, did you also know that being a morning or night person is inborn, genetic and difficult to change, and may therefore affect their productivity?

According to Vox, sleep researchers call this phenomenon “social jetlag” - the mismatch between our daily schedules (i.e. social expectations such as the 9-5 grunt), and the unique biological requirements of our internal clocks of when your body needs sleep. The greater the gap between these, the greater your risk for developing health problems.

An estimated two-thirds of people experience an hour of social jetlag per week, so if you are that person who wakes up groaning to the alarm clock each morning, that extra hour of sleep-in can really make a difference to your health and better concentration and productivty at work! 

Having never being a morning person, I was always thankful for a former boss who understood that as I often turned up at 9.30am 😅 She knew I was dedicated, committed, always delivered on my job.  If I had a 7am call with someone in Boston, I'd make myself available, but otherwise, she was flexible - and this gave me the motivation to work hard and always deliver.

Have Breaks With Your Colleagues

It's through teamwork and cohesive relationships that work gets done successfully - it's never a solo march, so build on your bond for sustainable successes at work.  Understanding your colleagues helps set expecations about how they like to be managed, or how they can help better manage your priorities. 

We all have a life outside of work, so getting to know them a little more will help minimise unrealistic expectations, frustrations, and improve morale, contentment, and ultimately, productivity.

Reusables, Not Disposables!

As part of making your working life more sustainable and environmentally friendly, we should think about the items we use through the day in the office as well.  You could consider BYO coffee cups for coffee runs, and your own reusable cutlery if you order takeaway for lunch instead of getting disposable ones!

In the office, there are many reusable, more eco-friendly improvements that can be made too - refillable pens to reduce the single-use plastic pens wasted; Paper Saver Reusable Notebooks to stop the paper and notebook waste; sticky notes should be replaced with reusable items that help with reminders, such as a small whiteboard that can be placed conveniently next to your screen!

Did you know... while sticky notes are recyclable, small pieces of paper in general including torn up or shredded paper are hard to collect during the recycling process? The small pieces filter into other recyclable items such as cans and bottles, causing contamination. So, placing them in the green bin is a much better way to recycle them into compost instead.

Start Office Recycling and Compost Bins (Really!)

At one of my last jobs, it was an eye-opener to learn that there was no recycling bin in the office.  At this day and age, to not recycle is like the abnormal.  Colleagues were constantly printing drafts to proof, which then went straight into the bin. 

The printer was also famed for jamming, creating piles of incorrectly printed papers which went straight into the bin too.  I would collect my share of wasted paper for my Paper Saver Notebooks to reuse as my notebook pages, but there was only so much I could take (there was just THAT much waste)!  

So please, if you are still one of these workplaces, have more thought for the environment - reduce and reuse, then recycle (see why here).  

Did you know you can add your company logo to the Paper Saver Reusable Notebooks for eco-friendly corporate stationery or gifts?

Turn off lights when leaving meeting rooms 

If a meeting room, or any rooms such as storage rooms or toilets are not in use, be more energy efficient by turning off the light when you leave! It seems relatively insignificant, but if we all did this simple action, we would be able to contribute to a greater reduction in our impact on the environment.

Maintain a clean working space

Get into the habit of tidying up your working space every night, so you can start in a clean, clear space the next morning, refreshed to start the day.

There is always room for improvement in all that we do as we interact with the people around us, as well as our environment - that is the attitude we should adopt for a sustainable lifestyle.