Free template
Office 5S audit checklist
An office 5S audit checklist is a scored list of checks for sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain, written for offices, meeting rooms, kitchens and shared areas instead of the shop floor. The same 5S ideas apply: keep only what the work needs, give it a labeled place, keep it clean, write down what good looks like and check it holds. In an office that includes shared drives and folder names as well as desks and supply cupboards. This template has 25 checks, five per S, scored from 1 (not in place) to 5 (fully in place and sustained), with space for what you saw, a score summary, a chart of the five S's and actions for the lowest scores. It uses the same layout and scale as the 5S audit checklist, so office and floor scores can sit side by side. The Excel version adds up the scores, names the lowest S and draws the chart.
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
When to use it
When to use an office 5S audit checklist
- In offices, planning and engineering areas, meeting rooms, kitchens and other shared spaces.
- After an office 5S event, to set a baseline and check the area holds in the weeks after.
- When the plant runs 5S audits on the floor and wants the offices on the same footing.
- When shared drives and supply cupboards have become places nobody can find anything.
How to fill it in
- 1
Agree the area
One office, one team's space or one shared area, the same boundary every time so the scores compare.
- 2
Walk it with the team
Score each check where it applies, including a look at the shared folders on screen. 1 is not in place, 5 is fully in place and sustained.
- 3
Write what you saw
For any score of 3 or less, the finding and where it is: which cupboard, which folder.
- 4
Add up the scores
Each S is out of 25 and the total out of 125. The Excel version works out the percentages and names the lowest S.
- 5
Agree the actions
Pick the lowest scores and agree actions with owners and dates. Check them at the next audit.
- 6
Post the result
Put the score up in the area and keep the trend. A monthly audit by the team, with someone from outside now and then, keeps it honest.
What's on the checklist
The 25 checks on the office 5S audit checklist
Five checks per S, written for offices, meeting rooms, kitchens and shared folders. On the sheet each one is scored from 1 (not in place) to 5 (fully in place and sustained), with space for what you saw.
Sort
Keep only what the work needs
- 1Desks and shared surfaces hold only what is used this week
- 2No broken, spare or duplicate equipment (monitors, chairs, printers) left in the area
- 3Paper files past their retention date are archived or shredded
- 4Shared folders have no duplicate or out-of-date copies of current documents
- 5Notice boards show only current notices
Set in order
A place for everything, and everything in it
- 6Shared supplies have a labeled home and a minimum stock level
- 7Files and binders are labeled and kept in an agreed order
- 8Shared equipment (printer, projector, meeting room kit) is back in its set place
- 9Digital folders follow one naming convention the team agreed
- 10Exits, fire extinguishers and the first aid kit are clear and signed
Shine
Clean, and fix what is found
- 11Desks, keyboards and shared surfaces are clean
- 12Kitchen, meeting rooms and printer area are left clean after use
- 13Bins are emptied and recycling is sorted
- 14Cables are tidy and off the floor, with nothing to trip on
- 15Faulty lights, equipment and furniture are reported and tagged
Standardize
Write down what good looks like
- 16A photo standard of the area is posted and current
- 17Cleaning and tidying tasks each have an owner and a frequency
- 18The clear-desk rule (what may stay out overnight) is written and known
- 19Labels, colors and folder names follow the same standard across the area
- 20Meeting rooms have a posted reset list for the end of each meeting
Sustain
Keep it that way
- 21Actions from the last audit are closed or have a new date
- 22The team audits its own area on schedule
- 23People can explain the area standard when asked
- 24New starters are shown the office 5S standard in their first week
- 25The audit score is posted and the trend is reviewed
A filled-in example
Illustrative, not a benchmarkAn example: the first audit of a planning office (illustrative).
- Sort 21 of 25: a few old monitors and a box of retired binders taken out during the audit.
- Set in order 12 of 25: no agreed folder naming, three versions of the production plan on the shared drive, supplies with no labeled home.
- Shine 20 of 25. Standardize 10 of 25: no photo standard and no clear-desk rule. Sustain 15 of 25.
Total 78 of 125 (62%). The weakest S was Standardize, so the team agreed a folder naming rule and a photo standard first, and archived the old plan versions.
Common mistakes
Only looking at desks
Shared drives, supply cupboards and meeting rooms are where most office time is lost looking for things.
Doing it to people, not with them
An audit of someone's desk without them feels like an inspection. Walk it with the team and agree the standard together.
Rules nobody wrote down
"Keep it tidy" means different things to different people. A photo standard and a clear-desk rule make it one thing.
One big clean-up and no audits
Without a regular audit, an office slides back within weeks, the same as the floor.
Download the template
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
Run this template in LeanSuite
In LeanSuite auditors complete photo-required 5S audits on a tablet, each failed line becomes a corrective action with an owner and a due date, and scores roll up by department.
In the lean glossary
Free tools
FAQ
Office 5S audit checklist: common questions
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A shift handover sheet, a red tag log, a changeover checklist for one machine: if your team uses it on the floor, ask.