Top Tips For Implementing An Effective Labelling System In The Workplace 

A good labelling system in the workplace is crucial. We all know that effective storage solutions ensure that your workplace remains clutter-free and easy to navigate and work in. After all, whether you work in a commercial office or an industrial warehouse, keeping the work floor neat and tidy is essential to getting jobs completed quickly, minimising the risk of any accidents, and impressing your business’s customers.

However, there’s more to keeping your office, warehouse or factory tidy than simply buying storage cabinets and shelving. 

To really keep everything under control, you’ll need to implement a labelling system for employees to abide by – but how? Here we offer our top tips for doing so.

Why is a good labelling system in the workplace important?

Safety

Clear labelling can help you avoid accidents and injuries. Labelling can indicate hazards, load capacities, and handling procedures. In healthcare for example, poor labelling can lead to medication errors.

Compliance

Labelling can ensure you comply with regulations, especially in industries such as the food and drinks industry.

Efficiency

Clear labelling can lead employees to what they need to find quickly. This can improve productivity, by saving time and reducing stress for employees.

Maintenance schedules

Clear labelling can ensure you keep track of servicing and maintenance, which can ensure everything remains functional and compliant, saving money from costly downtime needed for more intensive repairs.

Branding

Labels can make your brand known to a wider audience. They can enhance brand recognition, and attract new customers.

Organisation & Cohesion

Clear labelling systems can help to create a work culture where everyone feels empowered when it comes to finding, categorising, and using the appropriate items – making sure your employees feel valued and empowered. 

Top Tips for effective labelling in the workplace

There are a few pro approaches to effective labelling that can make life so much easier. We’ve listed our top tips below:

Be consistent with your labels

When choosing your labelling, be consistent. Use the same look throughout your space, or if you use a lot of labelling, use the same label for each department / section. This means that you and your employees will always know where to look for labelling information – it won’t be lost in the visual clutter of your space – and it also makes you more motivated to follow the instructions on the labelling, because they seem legitimate and authoritative. Helping employees find the information they need on your labels will make your operations more efficient.

Making sure you don’t alternate between barcodes, stickers and printed labels will confuse employees and make processes take longer, as they take longer to find what they’re looking for. Choose one type of label for each section of goods (whether you’re organising documents in a cupboard or products stored on pallet racking) and stick to it.

Always put the labels in the same place

Whether you’re labelling boxes of stationery or packaging products ready to ship, making sure you put the label in the same place every time can make it much easier for your employees to find what they’re looking for. For instance, by putting the label in the right-hand corner every time, whether it’s a barcode or a handwritten sticker, your employees will know exactly where to look to find all the information they need.

Make sure to provide all necessary information

Depending on what type of product you’re labelling and filing away, you may need to store information on the label, as opposed to simply using a coloured sticker or stamp. For example, while you may only need a very basic labelling system when storing boxes of stationery in an office, there are some products and environments where detailed labels are essential, such as food products and toxic chemicals.

Educate your staff

Ensuring that you’ve trained employees on the information included on your labelling and how it’s laid out makes sure they can interpret the information involved, and also feel confident enough to use the system themselves, making processes more efficient and accurate.

Schedule inspections regularly

Especially when you have just instigated a new system, it’s worth inspecting labels regularly. This ensures both that items are up-to-date, but also that the labelling methods and requirements are being met and are being adhered to.

Maintain your labels

Your labels should be maintained – kept clean and legible – so that they can continue to be useful. Dirty or broken labels are not useful.

Invest in durable material

When instigating your labelling system, it’s worth investing in durable materials and printing techniques. This will extend the labels’ usable lifespan.

Communicate any changes

If you’re going to update your labelling system at all, ensure that you communicate these changes clearly to the workforce. You should also provide reminders and resources, so that employees can check-in on the updates and answer any questions they may have about the new system.

Provide your employees with a guide

As implied above, there’s no point in implementing a labelling system if your employees don’t understand it and can’t find what they’re looking for. For instance, if you’ve decided to colour code all business contracts with different coloured stickers relating to different deadline dates or levels of confidentiality, failing to keep your employees updated with the new changes could cause a series of problems. Make sure you create a key or guide for your workforce to follow so that everyone’s reading the system correctly.

Create a specific labelling team

It should be clear whose responsibility the labelling process is. Designated staff members to oversee the process will ensure that there is accountability, and that somebody is directly invested in keeping labelling systems upgraded and fully functional.

Efficient labelling is also made much easier by implementing good storage solutions. Choose racking and shelving options from a company such as Racking & Shelving Antrim, and you will be able to understand your inventory before also being able to interpret your clear labels. Optimising your storage space with solutions such as mezzanine floor installation and pushback racking increases business productivity and improves inventory management.

At Racking + Shelving, based in Antrim, we understand the importance of implementing effective labelling and filing solutions in the workplace. That’s why we supply only the highest quality storage systems to commercial and industrial clients in Northern Ireland and beyond, from cantilever racking to mezzanine flooring and storage cabinets. For more information about our range of services or to discuss what the team at Racking + Shelving could do for you, don’t hesitate to get in touch today.