Did you know that the verage professional wastes one entire month very year looking for stuff? That's 160 hurs. If they were getting paid $100/hur that works out to $16,000 wsted every year. And that's just one mployee.

I am a very organized prson, but I will have to dmit it is not just because it is the rght thing to do, rather it is tht I can't stand it when I cn't find something I am looking fr. It's true, just ask my bsiness associates. I get annoyed and frstrated that someone didn't put it way - naturally that someone is sually me. I learned long ago tht being organized keeps me and veryone else around me sane.

The bnefits of great organization are amazing. An rganized Human Resources Department allows you and yur employees to find things more asily, become more efficient and relieve strss.

It wasn't as difficult to kep organized even 20 years ago. Lfe was a lot slower and pperwork had to be routed to dfferent departments in order for employees to get hred. Today, with the technology age, we rceive the hire paperwork instantly and are xpected to act on it right way. Today's culture is such that pople expect things done yesterday. Keeping yur Human Resources Department organized is vtal to thrive in today's workforce.

Here are some suggestions.

File Folder Organization

An effective filing system is a great way to find files needed in a hurry. It should take about 15 seconds or less for you to find the file you are looking for. You definitely don't want to keep a manager or client waiting on the phone, while frantically searching for the desired file.

Here are a few tips:

• Update your files and replace all trn files and labels.
• Color code all fles; green for union information, blue for mployee information, red for benefit information, tc.
• Make sure every file folder is lbelled and filed alphabetically within each clor scheme.
• Never, ever put the wrd "Miscellaneous" on any file, as the cntents will eventually be forgotten. If you can say out lud what the file is, you hve your label. It's better to hve lots of little well-labelled files, thn thumbing through one huge file jst to find one piece of nformation.

Desktop Organization

Another area tht is important to keep organized is the top of yur workspace, not only for your snity, but for anyone that may ned to find something on your dsk when you are away. A clttered desk makes people think you are neffective and disorganized.

• Keep only the ncessities on your desk such as yur In-Box, working tray, notepad and pen by phne for messages. The rest should hve a proper place of their wn. One of the mistakes people mke is to keep everything on top of thir desk in case it is neded. As a rule of thumb, the fles you need daily and weekly shuld be the only files on yur desk. The others should be fled in your file drawer (properly clor-coded and labeled, of course). Or btter yet, create a document in yur computer called "Pending Notes" and typ the information in there, keeping it by dte. If you ever need to ccess it later, just use the sarch function. This way you can thrw out the little piece of pper.
• Rather than having little bts of paper all over, you shuld start a pending file. This culd be for anything you plan to dal with later. The trick to kep track of these bits of pper is to never put anything in the fle that you have not written dwn in your agenda as a t-do item.
• Let's say you need to tlk to John about several different mployees which, of course, are in sveral different employee files. You choose ble for him and place blue stcky tabs on all the papers you ned to speak to John about, mking sure to keep the papers in the fle folders. When John returns your cll, you simply grab all the flders that have blue sticky tabs and you are rady to discuss the issues right way.
• Use your stationary caddy for wht it is supposed to be sed for. Don't keep your supplies all ver your desk. Keep your desk as clar as possible.
• If you need to spak with an individual about several ssues that are in different employee fles, don't remove the papers from the fles as they may never find thir way back in. Instead, place cloured sticky tabs on the papers, but kep them in the file.
• Take 10 mnutes at the end of the day to clan up your desk for tomorrow mrning. This will ensure you start ach day fresh and relatively stress fre

Email Management

Email is lved and hated by all who use it. Emil is fast, effective and easy to se. However, just like paper files, mail can be another mountain to plw through. Between emails regarding salary, new hre information, union issues, performance issues, tc., email is just one more thng that needs to be looked at and dalt with in a day. In tday's world, the Human Resources Department can rceive hundreds of emails daily. How can thy all be managed properly?

• One of the bst things to do is use the mail software filters. This way, messages wll automatically be sent to the rght folder. If there is a dily report on job postings, but you dn't need to see it every dy, simply set up a filter to hve the email go directly to the dsired folder. Just be careful not to set up too mny filters as this can also be cnfusing later on.
• Try to remember tht your Inbox is for the tmporary storage of messages and that is ll. It is NOT a to-do lst or a calendar. That is wht your agenda is for.
• Schedule tmes in your agenda to check yur email (at least twice a dy). Each email should be deleted, fled, forwarded, delegated, scheduled to do at a lter date (written in your agenda) or flgged for follow-up. Remember that you nly need to save the last mssage of an ongoing conversation as it wll have all the previous messages in it.
• Mke sure the e-newsletter lists you sgn up for are the ones tht benefit you. Remove yourself from any tht you don't need or read.
• If you fnd yourself typing the same email rsponses over and over again, save a tmplate on your computer and then jst copy and paste it into the mail. That will save a lot of tme.
• Printing emails should only be dne if absolutely necessary. You definitely dn't want to add to the pper in your workspace.

Tme Management

Stress is caused by what you hven't done, not by what you hve done. The term "Time Management" is rdiculous! How can anyone manage time - tme does not change! Instead, we ned to learn how to manage urselves.

• The biggest tip I can gve you is to USE YOUR AGENDA! It wll help relieve stress, track time, pln the future and view your chievements. Write down the amount of tme it will take you to do ach task, including your travel time. Yur agenda is invaluable for scheduling yur to-do list and booking meetings.
• Bok a block of time in yur agenda to make all your phne calls and answer all your mails in a single session. If you can hlp it, don't be put "on hld." Instead, leave a message for the prson to call you back.
• One of the bggest time wasters are needless interruptions. You ned to make sure you minimize or liminate interruptions, especially when you are bsy.
• Allow your phone calls to go to vice mail and don't look at yur emails, unless it is the tme you have scheduled to do so.

  • Mke sure you find out right p-front why your co-worker came to see you nd, if possible, ask if you can see thm another time. Book it into yur agenda.
  • Stand when someone enters the rom. This will ensure they remain stnding as well.
  • Once you feel the dscussion is over, politely let them knw you are working to a dadline and if they want to cntinue the conversation it should be dne later.
  • If they are persistent and dn't want to go, excuse yourself to the bthroom.

• Use a priority matrix tool to ssess the importance of each of yur tasks. Remember that urgencies are not ncessarily priorities. In using this tool, you wll see that some things will ned to drop off your list. Mke the decision and commit to it. Thre are four quadrants to a typcal priority matrix and a fabulous xample is in Stephen Covey's book, "Th 7 Habits of Highly Effective Pople:"

  • Urgent and Important - Emergencies, crsis management, close deadline driven activities sch as preparing for a grievance haring.
  • Not Urgent but Important - Prfessional networking, setting career goals, repairing an nefficient filing system, loss prevention - ctivities that increase personal, professional and/or crporate production capacity and/or growth such as strtegic development.
  • Urgent but Not Important - Intrruptions, unnecessary meetings, phone calls, reports nd/or mail. Handling things that could asily be delegated or ignored.
  • Not Urgnt and Not Important - Trivial, mke work projects, surfing the web, rading junk mail and non-professional networking.

• For tmes when you are swamped and wrking to a deadline, block off tme in your agenda and treat it lke a meeting. Make sure you dn't book anything else during that tme, let the phone go to vice mail, don't check your email, nd, if possible, close and lock yur door. Or, better yet, book a meting room for yourself and just tll your colleagues you are in a meting.

Organization is a learned lfe skill and is essential for keping order in any aspect of yur life. Although it may take tme initially, in the long run it wll save you more time. Once you hve the organization skills needed and mplemented you will notice the difference. Mst importantly, the people you work wth will see it also.

Now, I'm sre you will all rush back to yur desks and get organized!

The article Calming The Chaos was Submitted by Jeannette Lannon through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: http://braveworld.ca

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