“Cleanliness of desks in an office represents the working environment” was my perception. When I joined, most of the tables in my office were overwhelmed with papers. I was decided to maintain better. But, after three month I found my desk in same condition. After finishing a major task, I tried my best. Being failed, I became tensed. And an unconscious thinking was going on. Finally I was successful but it took almost six months.
During this process I tried to discuss the problem with colleagues & friends. And I got a picture which is as below:
- Almost all offices have this problem
- Most of the employees ignore it; even some of them don’t consider it as problem. I also believe it’s a less important issue where very few externals are dealt with
- It must happen when job description is not clearly defined and inter relation with other units or departments are not well known
- When decisions are being pending, employees are bound to keep all these documents on table to be in touch
- Even where the employee have to work with a document repeatedly and his/her daily responsibility includes many of such job
Being aware of the situation, I was looking for a solution. Truly speaking, I haven’t gone through any document. What I did is to observe how a few people are maintaining it successfully and seeking own solution. By this time, one of my colleagues has designed and preparing to hand over the documents. To do so, he organized all related & required documents. Surprisingly, we found that his documents were reduced by more than 60%. It led me recall his days and find out why it didn’t happen before.
After all these, I found some tools & techniques which may help to clean up desk at office. Some of these measure to be taken by the employee himself and some other to be by the supervisors or top management.
Let me explain measure to be taken by the employee first:
- Never think “I’m doing lots of job” or “I’m overloaded”
- Finish you job as soon as possible so that few issues are being pending
- List all the documents or department you’ve to deal with frequently and organize accordingly
- Spending 10-15 minutes before day closing will help to reduce papers from your desk
The management can also take few steps to reduce papers from desks like:
- Can provide quick decisions so that nothing is pending
- Make the understanding of job responsibilities of sub-ordinates
- Establish or set a large cabinet and dividing it in several parts organized as per department and/or personnel
- Re-arrange the desk on a periodical basis like once a year. When employees are shifting they will definitely go through all document and tend throw out unnecessary documents
First look has great impact and it should never be ignored. Though it’s not any of the determinants of quality service, it has impact. The stakeholders, especially the outsiders who are new, tend to have a quick perception. And definitely it’s an important issue to business as a part of reputation.
Again working environment is one of the important factors of motivation which is a determinant of employee turnover. As the employee turnover rate influences the continuation of quality services, management should be aware of all effecting factors.
