Behind every good business is an administrative nerve centre โ those individuals working hard to organise an organisation. From office managers and secretaries to support personnel and personal assistants, each play a vital role in helping businesses run as efficiently as possible.
In new research unveiled by Bankers Boxยฎ by Fellowes, 57% of administrative personnel surveyed were identified as showing distinct traits of a โNeat Freakโ when it came to filing habits at work and at home.
With the highest number of these โNeat Freaksโ working in the South East (63%) and in the accountancy sector, (16%) these employees are most likely to be found sat at their desk with a plentiful supply of cleaning wipes while ensuring everything has a place and everything is in its place, noticing even the slightest movement of a stapler.
Bankers Boxยฎ partnered with business psychology experts at the University of Leeds in 2015 to explore the UKโs love of filing and understand better what drives the way employees file. The project identified four distinct filing โtypologiesโ: โThe Architectโ, โThe Boffinโ, โThe Nesterโ and โThe Neat Freakโ.
The second most popular โPro-Filerโ typology to fall out of the recent survey was The โArchitectโ, with 17% of respondents displaying the tell-tale traits, while โThe Boffinโ accounted for the habits of 12% and โThe Nesterโ represented a further 12%.
The four typologies
The โNeat Freakโ has an enthusiastic approach to maintaining order and requires a storage solution to suit.
The โArchitectโ has a piling habit to help keep important documents to hand, making it easier to retrieve those pieces of frequently needed information.
The โBoffinโ is superbly arranged, professional and extremely methodical โ every file is colour-coded, labelled and referenced.
The โNesterโ is professional and organised, yet often feels swamped by paperwork and as a result finds it difficult to keep up with all documents that come their way
The research also highlighted that a tidy desk equals a tidy mind for many, with 41% of survey respondents adhering to a daily ritual of tidying their workspace and an eager 11% even admitting to a quick sweep every hour.
Experience counts for a lot, with 27% of respondents having established 20 years of service in helping businesses run more efficiently, but when asked what would be most useful by way of improving their workspace, 47% admitted a combination of more storage and an improved filing system would better their organisation.
The research unveiled that at home the scenarios that are most annoying are the washing up not having been done (54%) and someone else has already “tidied” away those things you haven’t finished using (39%).
With 58% of respondents admitting their attitude to storage and filing is โI’ll keep it and store it, just in case,โ itโs apparent filing is still a huge part of office and home life.
