Four Simple Things That Add Personality to Your Corporate Workspace

Snow White gives some sage advice in her 1937 Disney adaptation: Remember you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine.

I’ve had an office job for four years as of this writing. It’s everything I’ve wanted in long-term employment: a consistent, eight-to-four, five-day workweek, plenty of flexibility, occasions to work from home, several holidays, and great benefits! I remember touring my office before I was hired on; it reminded me of The Office tv show and I was giddy at the thought that such places actually existed!

With my experience, however, I can attest that the corporate world tv shows and movies often portray their settings realistically: black, silver, or grayish, sometimes windowless, spans of computers, phones, printers and filing cabinets. Thankfully, many people in the corporate world—like me— take Snow White’s advice and fill the drab spaces with a bit of our own sunshine. If you want to add a smile and a song to your cubicle, desk, or workspace, here are some items you might use to liven up your own area, most of which should be as simple and inexpensive as you’d like, if not already in your possession.

• Personal photos- If nothing else, pin up prints of your loved ones or favorite experiences you’ve captured. I like the Snapfish printing service, not only for printing pictures, but also for creating useful personal effects with them, like mugs, paper weights, mouse pads, and even some of the other things on this list!

Alternatively, if you know your way around a computer, you might upload some to set as a desktop background, avatars, icons, or even create a desktop slideshow. (I have some of my favorite wedding photos on rotation.)

• Desk calendars- Obviously, calendars are useful to keep up with the meetings and deadlines of the corporate world, but a fun one can help create a better vibe for you, if not others. Ones with borders, prints, and patterns give a splash of color to your desk. Landscape ones offer a visual/mental escape from the grind. Ones with your favorite people or things will give you something to smile about. Ones with trivia, comics, quotes, or jokes can be conversation starters.

Calendars.com or the Go! Calendar shops are my go-to retailers, but they can also be made on Snapfish or found anywhere school and office supplies are sold.

• Magnets- There’s always things to save and share in office life. Sticking them up with a magnet is a quick way to do so. But even if you don’t have something to display, interesting magnets can make the dull, metallic shelves and cabinets a little more cheerful. They can be found anywhere from craft stores to dollar stores to souvenir shops and online.

• Festive decor- A little seasonal/holiday spirit definitely breaks up the monochrome environment. My co-workers with their own offices place various hangings on their doors throughout the year. My manager also likes to put up lights and set out seasonal figurines around her door frame. Several others, who are local sports fans, have WVU posters and paraphernalia adorning their spaces. Another co-worker hangs holiday banners and ornaments on the walls near her. Come Christmastime, I put up a Charlie Brown tree in my cubicle.

I know social media may tout all-out, floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall ideas that look great if you want to go through all the trouble, but simpler efforts using trinkets from home or the drug store can work just as well.

• Fun, functional stationery- Office jobs may provide you with a few essentials, but you may want to make it your own as much as you’re allowed. You might develop your own organizational system with any desk supplies already on-hand or bring in some of your own. You’ll know what’s yours with any labeled or monogrammed material. You could make your notes stand out with colorful Post-its or other unique writing pads. A bulletin board could be brightened with some creative or colorful thumbtacks, if not a more aesthetic one altogether.

Most retailers of office or school supplies should have a variety of basic stationery supplies to choose from. Any custom-made/custom-order ones may come from places like Etsy, Snapfish, or gift stores.

Snow White’s advice is lyrics from her song “With a Smile and a Song”. If you know the rest of it, she sings that one’s heart can still be young and life flows along with such outward expressions of joy. Some may say the corporate world grinds for impersonal profit, growth, strategies and such. The environment can certainly show it if nothing else. However, the blood and veins of office life is a personable workforce--you and me. As we spread our metaphorical sunshine, be it with stationery, banners, or calendars, the corporate world feels a little bit less detached and disinterested from humanity...and may even find a smile and a song itself.