Back to Work After Summer: The September Workplace Checklist
September has a bit of a January feeling about it.
The summer holidays are winding down, diaries start filling up again and suddenly the office feels much busier than it did a few weeks ago.
For office managers, facilities teams and anyone responsible for workplace supplies, it’s also a good time for a reset.
After a quieter summer, those half-empty cupboards and “we’ll order it later” items have a habit of becoming much more noticeable when everyone returns at once.
So, before September gets properly underway, here’s a practical back-to-work workplace checklist to get your office ready for the months ahead.
1. Give the Stationery Cupboard a Proper Check
Not just a quick glance.
Summer can leave workplace stock in a strange state. There might be plenty of notebooks but no sticky notes, boxes of blue pens but somehow not a single working whiteboard marker.
Take ten minutes to check the everyday items people actually use:
- Pens, pencils and highlighters
- Notebooks and notepads
- Sticky notes and page markers
- Staplers and staples
- Files and folders
- Labels
- Envelopes
- Sticky tape
- Whiteboard pens and wipers
It’s much easier to restock everything together than deal with five separate “we’ve run out of…” requests during the first week back.
2. Check Your Paper and Printer Supplies
September often means meetings, reports, presentations, training materials and new projects getting underway.
Which means the printers suddenly get busy again too.
Check your paper levels, including any different sizes or specialist paper your business regularly uses.
It’s also worth checking toner and ink before the warning light appears halfway through an important print job.
If you have several printers across the business, make sure replacement supplies are available for the right models. A cupboard full of toner isn’t particularly helpful if none of it fits the printer asking for attention.
3. Reset the Meeting Rooms
Meeting rooms can become dumping grounds when the office is quieter.
September is a good opportunity to put them back into working order.
Are there enough chairs? Does the screen work? Are the cables and adaptors still there? Are the whiteboard pens usable?
Test video conferencing equipment too.
Finding out that the camera or microphone isn’t working when a client is already waiting to join isn’t the ideal start to the autumn.
4. Restock the Kitchen
When everyone’s back, the kitchen knows about it.
Check the basics your workplace provides, whether that’s tea, coffee and sugar or a wider selection of catering supplies.
Then look at the less obvious essentials:
Washing-up liquid, dishwasher tablets, kitchen roll, hand soap, sponges and bin liners can all disappear surprisingly quickly once the office gets busy again.
And yes, check the teaspoons.
Nobody knows where they go either.
5. Take a Look at Cleaning and Hygiene Supplies
More people in the workplace means shared spaces are being used more frequently.
Check stocks of hand soap, cleaning products, wipes, paper products and anything else your cleaning or facilities teams regularly use.
It’s also worth checking dispensers around the building rather than assuming the stock cupboard tells the whole story.
September is a good opportunity to speak with your cleaning team or contractor too. They often know exactly which products are disappearing fastest and which ones nobody ever uses.
6. Sort Out the Desks Nobody Has Used All Summer
Hybrid working means desks aren’t necessarily occupied five days a week.
That doesn’t mean they should be forgotten.
Have a quick check of shared and hot-desking areas. Remove abandoned paperwork, replace missing accessories and make sure monitors, keyboards, mice and docking equipment are where they’re supposed to be.
A clean, properly equipped desk makes coming back after a summer holiday considerably nicer than finding somebody else’s coffee mug and a missing HDMI cable.
7. Check Your Post and Packaging Supplies
If your business regularly sends documents, samples, customer orders or parcels, now is a good time to review the mailing cupboard.
Check envelopes, mailing bags, packaging tape, labels and protective packaging.
These are classic examples of supplies that nobody thinks about until something needs to leave the building that afternoon.
A small amount of forward planning can prevent an unnecessary emergency order later.
8. Review First Aid Supplies
First aid kits shouldn’t be something you only notice when they’re needed.
Check that workplace first aid points are appropriately stocked and that used or expired items have been identified and replaced where necessary.
If your team size, workplace layout or working arrangements have changed, it may also be a sensible time to review whether your existing first aid arrangements are still appropriate.
9. Get Ready for the Colder Months
Nobody particularly wants to think about winter while they’re still talking about their summer holiday.
Unfortunately, September has other ideas.
The next few months bring colder weather, shorter days and generally more time spent indoors.
Consider whether there are workplace supplies you’ll need more of as autumn approaches, from cleaning and entrance matting requirements to additional lighting or facilities products.
Planning now is usually easier than waiting until the first properly wet Monday morning.
10. Clear Out Before You Restock
Before filling every cupboard again, have a clear-out.
You may find old products, duplicate supplies or boxes of items that haven’t been touched in months.
Move usable stock somewhere people can actually find it. Recycle or dispose of anything that is no longer required appropriately.
Most importantly, find out what you already have before buying more of it.
A tidier stock area makes future ordering easier too, because you can actually see when something is running low.
11. Ask Teams What They’re Missing
You don’t have to guess everything yourself.
Ask department heads or employees whether there are small workplace issues that have been frustrating them.
Perhaps a team needs another whiteboard. Maybe a shared workspace doesn’t have enough power points. Perhaps everyone has quietly accepted that one meeting-room chair is broken.
September is a natural time to pick up those smaller jobs that can make the workplace noticeably better without requiring a major refurbishment.
12. Make the Next Order Easier Than the Last One
Once you’ve worked out what the workplace needs, think about how you’re ordering it.
If stationery comes from one supplier, cleaning products from another and catering supplies from somewhere else, you’re potentially creating more work than necessary.
More orders can mean more deliveries, more invoices and more staff time spent managing everyday purchases.
Bringing more workplace essentials together into planned orders can make stock easier to manage and help reduce those last-minute purchases.
Your September Workplace Checklist
Before everyone gets completely caught up in autumn, give your workplace one final check:
- Stationery restocked
- Paper, ink and toner checked
- Meeting rooms ready
- Kitchen and catering supplies replenished
- Cleaning and hygiene products checked
- Shared desks and equipment ready
- Mailing and packaging supplies stocked
- First aid supplies reviewed
- Autumn and winter requirements considered
- Old and excess stock cleared
- Teams asked what they’re missing
- Regular workplace order planned
It doesn’t need to become a huge project.
An hour spent checking the workplace now could prevent a lot of small problems over the next few weeks.
Start September Stocked and Ready
September is a fresh start for plenty of businesses.
Projects pick up again, teams return from annual leave and attention quickly turns towards the final few months of the year.
At Office Essentials, we help UK businesses get their workplaces ready with the everyday products teams rely on – from stationery, paper and desk essentials to cleaning, catering and wider workplace supplies.
Rather than waiting for things to run out one by one, September is the perfect opportunity to get ahead.
Get your workplace essentials sorted now, and make the return to work one less thing to worry about.
https://store.office-essentials.co.uk/
