Lockers At Work

Lockers are something we associate more with school, the gym and the local baths rather than the workplace, but more and more offices are starting to install staff lockers. The rise of this trend could be something to do with the way our office layouts have changed. Where once there would be lots of individual offices with lockable doors, now there is more of a tendency towards the open office environment. This change has come about because personal offices took up a huge amount of space and money, and also impeded communication among colleagues.

While open workspaces allow free-flowing communication and reduce construction costs, they do reduce security. Combined with the fact that more people are now hot desking, the removal of an assigned desk or even a whole office means that there is often nowhere secure to leave your personal possessions. We don’t like to think about theft in the workplace, but the fact is that it does happen from time to time. It might not be your colleagues either, but many offices have visitors and clients who attend, and sometimes an opportunity can be too tempting when things are left on show.

It is not just about security either. Some employees bring mountains of stuff to work, particularly those who cycle in and want to change shoes or clothing once they arrive, or those who want to use the company or local gym during their lunch break. Other people might bring in large packed lunches or reading material to occupy themselves in break times, while there could be hair straighteners and a make-up kit for others wanting to get ready to go straight out after they have clocked off. Even the average female worker’s handbag can take up a considerable amount of room. All of these things take up room and there may be no more space in desk pedestals for work files located there. This means that all of the other items end up lying around the desk area, looking untidy and cluttered and perhaps even making your office look unprofessional to visiting clients.

The solution is to provide a bank of office lockers for staff to store their belongings securely out of the way. These could be stored out of the way in a staff area or close to where staff come in. An average locker will provide sufficient space for an individual’s possessions, although for hygiene reasons it would be a good idea to recommend that staff use the fridge and kitchen for storing food and the gym area for any dirty sportswear if possible.

Particularly in offices where hot desking takes place, staff will feel more comforted by knowing that they have a secure space of their own for their belongings, and it might even make them feel more secure in their position and more comfortable with the idea of hot desking. It does not matter whether it is an entire office, a single desk or just a locker – having a space to call your own makes you feel more comfortable. And as offices try and make more and more room out of the space they have got, it is likely that desk sharing and flexible working will become more common and that there will be more recourse for offices to install staff lockers.

Author Bio: Jeff Thompson has been associated with some top companies that have expertise in designing, supplying and installing the latest shelving, lockers and racking.  She loves to write blogs and articles on storage solutions and Actions Storage. Here she is sharing his in depth knowledge with us on lockers.