You have to learn to make time. The first step is to get caught up - no matter what it takes. For me it was coming in on a Saturday to get it done (or setting aside one morning and making it known to the rest of the office that filing was my priority that day).
Once you get caught up try what I call group filing. When I work on a "group" (jobs, payroll, etc) I do my filing for what I've done before I move on to the next group.
For example:
When I do payroll, I also have to enter equipment hours for the previous week and fuel usage. First I process payroll and run those reports. If I can, I then enter the fuel and eq. hours, but sometimes I have to wait a day or more. Once I finish, I bind all the payroll, fuel and eq reports by week in one of those computer printout thingys and then file the binder. Then I sort, clamp and file the timesheets. This way I know where everything is and its off my desk. When I work on job files, I try to pull the file(s) (correspondence, po's, subcontractor) I'm working on and as soon as I make my file distribution copies, I clamp the file copies into the file and put it away and distribute the others.
It takes time to relearn this. I still don't have it perfected, but I've gotten so much better. I even got rid of one of my "to be filed trays" because it was becoming an "out of sight/out of mind" issue (I only saw it when I turned away from my desk). If its on my desk, I can't avoid it and I have to put it away if I want to keep my work more organized and my desk clean.
Good luck.
Michelle
