Our lighthearted take on HR issues moves on to the issue of untidy offices
Has hybrid working led to bad habits when it comes to tidiness? To be specific, have people’s lackadaisical attitude to desk cleanliness at home been exported into the office? It has not been unknown for this correspondent to leave banana skins and orange peel on the desk for an inordinately long period of time before realising it’s not a good look and disposing of them. But otherwise I’m OK, the odd tea stain under the mug, a carelessly strewn Biro perhaps, a memo hiding under a table tennis bat …
But according to a new study almost half of “Brits” who confess to a messy desk say they feel “overwhelmed”, “stressed” or “embarrassed” by it – with many receiving remarks from colleagues over the clutter.
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The survey of 1,000 office workers by marketing agency Repeat Digital, makes a truly stunning claim, one that has shaken many in the Personnel Today office to their very core: women are more likely to have a messy workstation and feel affected by it, compared with men. Or should that be “women are more likely to perceive their desk as messy”? We’ll never know.
Almost as contentious, and almost certainly as meaningless is the survey’s revelation that that London and Liverpool are home to the most “desk jungles”. So where are the cleanest, most orderly desks in the UK? Apparently, Newcastle has the most “organised” workers, where more than a quarter of employees (26%) say their work area is “perfectly tidy”.
Perception is all when it comes to measures of tidiness. One person’s tidy is another’s hygiene emergency, requiring intervention from operatives wearing protective suits.
For Dr Rebekah Wanic, a mindset psychologist at Vent to Reinvent, people can indeed get all coy about their workspace: “Because our workspaces can and are used as information for social judgement, people may feel embarrassed when their workspace is too messy because it may signal that they are not in control or on top of their work. I don’t think there is a need to feel embarrassed about a messy workspace unless it is messy in a way that interferes with others or with completing your own tasks.
‘I have a miniature rubber duck on my desk’
“Social media is full of messages about how to do everything with someone claiming that one way of organising is better than another or that a certain type of colour scheme or set up is more optimal. Most of this is garbage!”
Well that’s a relief – but we were leaning that way.
The survey also revealed a certain degree of personalisation of offices beyond the odd houseplant.
One respondent said: “I have a miniature rubber duck wearing a top hat. It’s a whimsical gift from a friend and adds a touch of fun to my workspace.”
Olly Fisher, founder of Repeat Digital, raises another ugly duckling of truth: “While there is a lot of light-heartedness to our study, it does highlight more serious topics which employers may want to address, for example, why four in ten workers are eating lunch at their desk either every day or most days.”
Because they’re hungry?
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