Last week we had an article appear in the Yorkshire Post offering our advice on Spring cleaning your business.
When you’re getting on with the day to day running of a company it can be easy to let things slip, and before you know it the office is overflowing and clutter is starting to take its toll. As our teachers always used to say “a tidy desk is a tidy mind”!
So if your workspace is in need of some tlc, here are our top tips for a good Spring clean:
At least twice a year, agree a date for a proper office clear out. Set time aside and get all staff involved. Cleaners can’t be responsible for deciding what items stay and go, so it’s down to the people in the business to have a regular de-clutter.
As a business of any size you have a duty under the Data Protection Act to ensure confidential waste is properly disposed of. Make sure all employees understand their responsibilities and that such waste isn’t just being binned – or you could be risking a big fine.
Consider setting up a shredding service in order to ensure confidential waste is dealt with appropriately. Depending on the volume of waste you have to deal with, service providers such as McCarthy’s Safe Shred can either come and shred at your premises, or take waste away to be destroyed.
If you can’t move for clutter – but it’s not necessarily things you can get rid of – consider renting some off-site self storage. You’ll still be able to get access 24/7 and your items will be secure, but it frees up your valuable office space (and square foot by square foot will be much more cost-effective).
Don’t hold on to paperwork unnecessarily – anything with customer details on, for example, should only be kept for as long as is reasonable in the situation. Financial data, on the other hand, should be kept for a minimum of six years from the end of the tax year it refers to. Double check on the rules relating to your circumstances.
In certain lines of work, going paperless may be impossible, and there might be documents you need to hold on to for several years. Assuming you don’t have unlimited filing space, it may be worth considering a document archiving This ensures your documents are kept safely, and filed in such a way that they can be easily accessed if needed, but takes them out of your day-to-day office space.
Remember that electronic equipment also falls under the Data Protection Act – if you are disposing of hard drives or USBs, wiping them may not be enough to prevent a hacker accessing details. Ensure these are properly destroyed and appropriately disposed of, and that you are given certificates of destruction.
Consider your green credentials when it comes to disposing of waste. You may be asked for certificates of recycling if you are going for accreditations such as ISO 14001.
If you’re getting rid of office furniture or IT equipment, consider staff or wider sales, or donating it to charity to make sure as little as possible ends up in landfill.
Spring cleaning is a great excuse to review all of your business suppliers, such as phone, energy, IT etc, to ensure you’re getting the service you need at the best possible price.
