New research, conducted by office supply specialists Fellowes, suggests UK businesses are facing an organisational epidemic. According to the data, released this week, the average employee spends seven working days a year looking for misplaced paperwork – costing UK business, as a whole, roughly £20million per year.

What will come as a greater shock to GDPR-minded employers is that one in five workers admit having paperwork on their desk that’s over five years old. Whilst, half said they have old documents lying around that is at least one years old.

The research also discovered that one in three only tidy up if their boss or client is coming into the office, and almost half (45 per cent) said they do so because it could lead to a promotion.

Darryl Brunt, UK sales and marketing director at Fellowes, says, “What we can see from the results, is that there are too many shortcomings in the workplace when it comes to organisation. Looming GDPR regulations should be enough of an incentive for employers to ensure their organisational processes are in check.

He adds, “Businesses should be encouraging workers to use filing and storage solutions and ensure sensitive information, no longer required, is destroyed before May – when the new regulation comes into play. Failure to meet GDPR processes could result in huge fines in the region of £20 million, which could be extremely damaging to any business.”

Half of all workers surveyed also believed their workplace design, environment and organisation has a positive impact on their productivity.

Bankers Box by Fellowes have put together some top tips to help you get your business organised for 2018

1. A good filing and storage system helps you become more organised and productive, a perfect way to get your workspace back in order
2. Use a Records Management System to understand what documents you need and where they should go. Are they active, semi-active, archival or disposal?
3. Keep your documents organised and secure using an assortment of strong storage boxes for easy transport and file access
4. Once you have organised your documents it’s always best practice to shred anything you no longer need
5. Plan a file clear-out every six months to a year to get rid of out dated or unnecessary files