Haha, like I didn’t know THAT already?!
When I used to work in an office, my colleagues used to joke that I was like Monica from Friends because I was so particular about the way that everything was kept. I like a nice tidy desk – my motto was “tidy desk – tidy mind” and it really did help me to keep on top of my work. It used to be my challenge to myself to have my filing trays empty at the end of each day.
Being in control of the Stationery stock was like heaven to me too, I’m a lover of stationery and so took great pride in this role. When it came to my filing I would do it in batches, I would store it for a week and then have a mass filing session since the majority of it would need to be filing in the archive room away from my office.
It’s not what you do it’s the way that you do it
It appears we’re a nation of avid filers and are quite happy to spend hours perfecting how we do it, so much so that you can now distinguish which pro-filer you and even your colleagues are.
Four distinct filing ‘typologies’; ‘The Architect’, ‘The Boffin’, ‘The Nester’ and ‘The Neat Freak’ have been identified. These are present in every office and will be immediately recognisable to many business owners and employees.
Filing is quite clearly a healthy obsession in the UK workplace and the way that we do it reveals some interesting traits about ourselves and others in a new study, commissioned by office supply specialists, Fellowes.
Paper filing is still a huge part of office life, according to a poll of 40 SME businesses. Fellowes has worked with business psychology experts at the University of Leeds as part of a wider piece of work to investigate the UK’s love of filing and understand better what drives the way we file.
To help employees better understand their own filing habits – and find out which one of the typologies they are – Fellowes has developed an online quiz.
So to find out which Pro-filer you are, take the quiz here: http://www.bankersbox.com/gb/en/solutionscenter/Pages/profile.aspx
For further information on the full Fellowes Bankers Box product range, please visit www.bankersbox.com
About the Pro-Filer Typologies
The ‘Neat Freak’
If someone moves something from your desk, you (and they) will know about it. As a Neat Freak you’re almost obsessive in your desire to make your world uniformed and orderly. You have a place for everything – and everything has its place. You will restore harmony with a swift re-alignment of a stapler and move of a mouse mat. Mess is your biggest enemy. You will never allow it to destroy the minimalism that dominates your busy working environment. You have an enthusiastic approach to maintaining order and you need a storage solution to suit.
The ‘Architect’
Tall towers of papers dominate your office landscape, constructed from piles of documents and sources of inspiration. Colleagues have been known to stop at the door to your office and back off slowly, for fear of disrupting your mountain of materials. Your piling habit helps you to keep important documents to hand and makes it easier for you to retrieve those pieces of frequently needed information. As an Architect, effective utilisation of space saving time is key. You believe you know exactly where each piece of vital information is and may not feel you have the time or reason to file.
The ‘Nester’
Surrounding yourself with things that make you smile keeps you happy in your work. Your desk is a professional extension of your own home and you keep all your personal favourites close: the special pen, cuddly toy, the family photo and the nifty corporate giveaway. You’re professional and organised, yet you often feel swamped by paperwork and find it difficult to keep up with all documents that come your way. Your workspace is full of new and creative ways to store papers. In your own words: ‘You never know when something may be needed at a future date’
The ‘Boffin’
As a Boffin you bring science and logic to your organisation systems. Superbly arranged, professional and extremely methodical, your storage style favours the category within a category approach. Every file is colour-coded, labelled and referenced. If a file can’t be categorized A- Z it will be arranged in another sequence that “simply makes good sense”. This doesn’t mean you necessarily favour a complicated filing system, you simply like well-considered classification. If PHDs were awarded for organisation, you would be the first to be presented with one. You need a storage system that’s first class too.