Much time, effort and money is put into the creation of an employee's work space: Ergonomic chairs and keyboard trays, wrap-around workstations, panel systems to separate employee spaces, pedestals, lateral files, and overheads for storage. All to make the employee more efficient. But the one thing consistently overlooked is how paper-flow is (mis)managed in this environment.

Take the pedestal or lateral file for instance. Most workstations use a generic box/box file or 2-drawer lateral. Often when opening these during a consultation I find them misused and abused--storing everything from old manuals and software haphazardly dumped into them, to shoes, purses, and a plethora of snack food. Why? Because these generally are inefficient for storing the paperwork employees are responsible for managing on a daily basis. Walk by any workstation and you will see this paperwork scattered across their work space and stacked high on the far recesses of their desktops. Overhead storage is generally used for similar items because most offices work with top tab folders and the file identity on these tabs can not be seen when sitting on an overhead shelf.

 The result is lost efficiency through poor records management. This weblog is dedicated to helping companies and corporations rethink their paper-flow, reduce cost, and improve space use while managing the process of paperwork flow throughout an office.