You may have your workstation organized and tidied up. Your workstation looks great, and you're ready to start your day at the office. For most people, organizing the workstation only means keeping everything on the desk properly in their designated spots so that everything you might need during work is right in front of you, and you don't have to dig through a mess to find it.
One of the most important aspects of workstation organization that most people overlook more than often is cable management. Their workstation may look neat and tidy, but once you open the drawer or look under their desk, you'll find a mess of tangled cables. Retrieving one of those cables means you first have to detangle all the cables and then take the one you need out. All of this can take a lot of your valuable time.
Imagine your laptop's battery is at 5%, and you're in the middle of a very important meeting. You open the drawer of your work desk to take the laptop charger, but it's so tangled that by the time you take it out, your laptop's battery is fully drained, and you're out of the meeting before it is over. Not only is this unprofessional, but extremely embarrassing.
Cable management is a significant factor that most people overlook. This blog post will highlight some benefits of cable management, surprising ways cable management can improve your productivity, and some tips and tricks to help you manage your cables at work.
What Benefits Do Cable Management at Work Have?
Cable management is simply the management of your cables and hardware at work to make everything organized and easily identifiable. While most of our focus is to make our workplaces look aesthetically appealing, we often overlook that poorly managed cables at work can affect workplace aesthetics adversely.
Below are some ways in which proper cable management at work can benefit you:
1. Enhances Safety
One of the biggest safety hazards at work is cables. Cables pose a serious trip and fall hazard. You can trip over a cable lying on the floor and hurt yourself. Not only does that mean off-time and lost productivity on the employee's end, but it also means liabilities for the employer. Trip and fall accidents are the most common types of workplace accidents, and a good percentage of all these accidents reported are because of unorganized cables at workplaces.
2. Saves Time
You may not realize that detangling cables daily take up much of your time. The time that goes into detangling and retrieving the cables you need can be spent doing something more productive. Most of us dump all the cables and wire in our drawers without really worrying about them getting tangled, and this gets to us when it’s time to take one of those numerous cables out. Continuing the example we gave earlier about your laptop's battery running low, had you kept all your cables and cords organized, you could have plugged in the charger at the right time.
3. Saves Money
Did you know proper cable management can help you save money? Not only do you get to save money that would be spent on getting the injuries due to poor cable management treated, but you also save money on new cables and cords. Cables that aren't kept in an organized manner are more likely to get damaged due to tangling, slacking behind office equipment, and coming under the feet. If all your cables are neatly organized, they'll last longer, and you can save money that you'll otherwise have to spend on buying new cables and cords.
4. Makes Your Officer Neater and Cleaner
An office where there are wires and cables spread all over looks extremely untidy. Not only do unorganized cables make your office look messier, but it also fosters an unclean environment. Tangled balls of wires and cables that you leave unattended for a long time accumulate dust on them, and the dust can make you sneeze. It can also trigger allergies in those who are sensitive to dust. However, keeping your cables organized and adequately managed ensures that they receive the attention they need to ensure your office looks organized and stays clean.
5. Good First Impression
Imagine walking into an office for an interview, and the first thing you see at the reception are cables – lots of them, lying around just like that. What impression would you form of this office? Probably that the rest of the office will be equally unaesthetic and unorganized. Well, that's the power of unorganized cables. They can really affect the impression of your clients or prospective employees form of your office. Keeping your cables properly organized will help you establish a good first impression on your clients and prospective employees.
How Cable Management Improves Productivity?
Proper cable management makes your office safer and look more attractive, but can keep your cables organized help improve productivity at work? It can, especially for individuals whose job revolves around wires and cables like the IT department. Let's have a look at how proper cable management helps improve productivity.
Makes Troubleshooting Quicker and Easier
One of IT professionals' biggest challenges is finding the right cords and cables during troubleshooting. Most wires look identical, with only minor differences that set them apart. When the system is down for any reason, IT professionals have to act fast and restore the system. If the systems are down for too long, it can affect the business. When the wires and cables are correctly arranged and labeled clearly, the IT professionals can work their way around the cables quickly and get done with the troubleshooting sooner.
Reduces Downtime
When the system troubleshooting and restoration are speeded up, the time for which the systems are down is significantly reduced. The systems can be up and running in no time if the system cables and cords are arranged in an orderly manner, and the professionals don't have to waste any time sorting through the wire mess first!
Less Cluttered Workspace
Clutter affects productivity big time. If your workspace is cluttered, your productivity will go downhill. Proper cable management declutters your workspace and helps you focus on work better. With better focus comes better results.
Organizing Cables at Work
Now that you know how beneficial proper cable management at work is, you might want to know how you can organize the cables and cords at work better. We've listed some ways to help you ensure you don't have to deal with a messy mess of wires and cords.
Use Cable Ties
One of the best ways to keep cables organized at work is by using cable ties like the ones that come with the Cable Management Set. You can tie a group of cables going to the same hardware together and ensure that they aren't scattered all over the place. Having multiple wires tied together will also ensure they don't get tangled. If you ever have to remove any one wire, all you'll have to do is cut the cable tie and pull the one you need out.
Coaxial Cable Staples
You can also use coaxial cable staples to hold the wires to the wall, floors, or around the doorways. If the wire extends from one side of the room to the other and it's lying around the floor, anyone passing the room can trip and fall. With coaxial cable staples, you can secure the wires to the walls or around the doorways to ensure they don't come in the way.
Painter's Tape
The quickest and cheapest fix to scattered wire is painter's tape. If there are lots of cables, like behind your computer table, that are always tangled, you can simply secure them to the table, wall, or any other surface separately using painter's tape to ensure each of them stays separate and doesn't get tangled.
Use Power Strips
If there aren't sufficient power inlets, you'll have to plug your devices into faraway switchboards, which means the wires will be scattered all around the room. This will make your workspace look untidy and unorganized. To keep the cables organized, you can use power strips so that all the wires can be plugged into one place. You can use cable ties or hooks to separate each of them so they don't get tangled.
Closing Word
Cable management is extremely simple and straightforward. There's absolutely no science involved. There are plenty of cable management kits easily available today that can help you keep your workspace looking neat, tidy, and organized. You can now say goodbye to a messy workspace where there's a cable at every step!
You may have never thought something as simple as keeping cables organized can help you at work, from making you more productive to keeping your office looking tidy and aesthetically appealing!
