In an office dedicated to your project, seek ways to improve efficiency, and don’t allow “green” or “efficiency” measures to actually decrease efficiency.
For example, I have seen many offices that have removed all the rubbish bins and recycling bins from the office areas. Staff are told to use the bins in the kitchen or “designated areas” this makes it necessary for staff to walk away from their desk to dispose of rubbish or to store it in the desk until they have time. This can create messy desks, safety hazards, and force people to waste time taking rubbish and recycling to bins, it also means people recycle less because it is too much hassle. This is especially difficult for visitors to the office (short-term or contract staff) who don’t know where the bins are.
It is also worth finding all the tasks in the office that waste people’s time and find ways to improve them.
For example:
- Rubbish bin locations
- Clearly label sections in stationery cabinets so people can find what they need quickly. Requiring people to sign out stationery is a time waster. It is better to have a sheet for requesting special items and an admin person to check what needs restocking regularly.
- Easy to find/access user manuals for desk phones (for call forwarding etc).
- Make lists of shortcuts for common software available
- Windows, Word, Excel etc
- It is amazing how many people click-through multiple menus to copy and paste instead of using ctrl c, ctrl v etc
