Fifty-seven percent of workers admit they judge an officemate based on the cleanliness of their workspace. Almost half mentioned that a dirty office had appalled them. A cluttered work environment can hinder an employee’s capabilities and lead other people in the company to doubt him or her.

1. Decluttering an Office Helps
Maintain a Productive
Workforce
Forte Commercial Cleaning

2. Fifty-seven percent of workers admit they judge an officemate based on the cleanliness of their
workspace. Almost half mentioned that a dirty office had appalled them. A cluttered work
environment can hinder an employee’s capabilities and lead other people in the company to doubt
him or her.
Beyond Productivity
A messy desk can shed a negative light on an employee because it reflects the person using it. A
survey of 300 senior managers reveals that a disorganized desk can annoy co-workers and managers.
Managers tend to think that employees with cluttered desks are unprofessional.
Meanwhile, a Harvard experiment, with over 100 participants, reveals that cluttered desks can
reduce an individual’s persistence in challenging tasks.
Clutter and dirt, however, do not only affect an employee’s performance. The bacteria and germs on
surfaces could also make them sick; a keyboard, for example, could be five times dirtier than a toilet
seat and harbor microbial pathogens, including E.coli and staph. Staphylococcus aureus typically
causes food poisoning. Employees calling in sick is often a cause for inefficiency. Clearly,
decluttering is not the only solution to maintaining tidy offices. Sanitation is vital as well.

3. Divide and Conquer the Workplace
Setting up zones for daily functions can help employees maintain an organized workspace. For
example, if an employee’s job needs a station with a desktop, a library area, a storage area, then
that should be the setup of his or her station. Maintaining this can serve as a foundation for a
worker’s more efficient use of space.
Getting rid of visual clutter can serve as the second strategy. A worker needs to keep only the
essentials. Supplies, personal items, as well as paperwork need to be in the zones earlier established.
This would maintain a better-looking station.
Crafting a daily paper system can also help. A streamlined process for where each letter or memo
goes can work for an employee. It helps not to see tons of paper lying around the worker’s station.
Getting rid of clutter will never be a problem to a determined employee with a system and a
business intent on meeting productivity.

4. Sources:
https://www.forbes.com/pictures/lmj45iljd/create-a-daily-paper-system/#2f7b7c2dedc2
http://www.forte-sandiego.com/
https://hbr.org/2015/01/why-a-messy-workspace-undermines-your-persistence
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Germs/story?id=4774746&page=1