The Impact of a Tidy Workspace on your Productivity

The cleanliness of your workplace can have a major impact on your productivity, research suggests. A recent study found that cluttered and chaotic workspaces can decrease efficiency, causing employees to become more easily distracted. But why are workspaces so important to our productivity?

Office workspaces have transformed over the years and vary from industry to industry, but whether you have a busy open-plan office space or a private office, tidiness can make all the difference. Over the past year, where many people have been working from home, workspaces have been considered in a new light. As the home has become a workspace for many people, some have struggled with productivity, whereas others are finding that they are more productive than ever. Can a workspace make that much of a difference?

The short answer is yes, it can! Our workspace dictates our ability to concentrate and focus. If a workspace is messy and cluttered, it can become easy to waste time searching for lost documents or equipment. A good level of organisation, or using paperless operations where possible, can prevent wasted time.

Productivity is different for everyone, which is why some people seem to thrive in fast-paced and often noisy environments, whereas others require complete silence in their workspace. Some people may find that music is a distraction to their work, whereas others may struggle to work without it. However, one over-arching commonality between people is that a cluttered workspace almost always decreases productivity. Psychologically, humans often translate physical clutter to mental clutter, which can make it harder to produce focused and efficient work. This was confirmed by a Princeton University study, which found that clutter makes it more difficult for people to focus on particular tasks.

Clutter can accumulate quickly, but fortunately it is easy to maintain a clean workspace by tidying up after each day. This can also make it easier to have a fresh start to each day, and to tackle the tasks at hand.

Cleanliness is also important for health, too. Throughout the pandemic, many businesses are taking cleanliness more seriously than ever before to prevent the spread of the virus. If these efforts continue post-pandemic, employees will be less likely to get ill as regular cleaning can reduce the spread of colds and viruses.

Keeping a clean and tidy workspace is vital for your productivity and focus. In a calm and organised environment, employees are calmer, less stressed and healthier.