Comments on: The dirty truth about messy offices

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:19:40 +0000

I’ve had the exact opposite happen, on multiple occasions, as an engineer. Last time it happened, a high level visitor commented on another engineers’ desk, and said that it didn’t look like he did any work. He came into my office, saw the papers and books everywhere, and said “Now, THIS is where work gets done.” We talked for several hours after that about projects and ideas.

Now, I’m not saying I like having a messy desk, but in the middle of a project, most engineers have papers and books everywhere. When the project’s done, time to clean up.

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:36:42 +0000

Not sure how I feel about the amount of miscellaneous stuff in an office, but I will tell you what DID make me a Judgy McJudgerson: leaving a copy of “Management for Dummies” in plain view. Don’t advertise your incompetency to everyone walking past your desk!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sat, 05 May 2012 03:26:11 +0000

I’ve become a lot neater over the last year, but it really did take awhile to figure out a system. Most of my daily chores consist of emailing documents to someone, so all my “to-do” folders start with “Send To.” When the folder is empty, after the docs have been sent, I place it at the back of an incline file. Some documents don’t need to be sent every day, but I’ve come to like seeing all those skinny folders clumped together at the back of an otherwise empty organizer, so that’s a good motivator. I also have a periodic chore that piles up fast — these are things that have to be processed for individual customer locations. I keep a separate stackable tray for each location, and these go in 2 overhead bins with doors that close. The doors, in turn, have reference information fastened to them with magnets. It’s a pain having to close the doors when I want the information, so this spurs me to process the docs in the cabinets so I can close the doors and access the information more easily!
Some items need to be filed away in locked cabinets. I can keep them on my desk without a problem, but have started to designate the first of each month as Putaway Day, and have noticed how less stressed I feel after this has been taken care of.

By: JC

JC — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:35:09 +0000

I work in a single attorney law office (mostly paperless). I do paralegal work, greet clients, and answer phones, all in the front/entry office area. For confidentiality reasons, my desk must be clean enough that should a client walk in the door, I can flip paper files over and close down computer files in 10 seconds (that’s the time from when I see them walk past the window to when they enter my area). All files are put in the back office as soon as I am done with them, and nothing is left out overnight, or even over my lunch break. I’ve returned from a holiday and found that my boss had decided to purge files and I spent three days looking for the stack of current work I had in the back office when I left.

Aside from that, my boss is very zen and a photographer as well. The personal touches at my work area= two small rocks and two 3/4″ inch high paper crane my son made me. Otherwise everything else is clean and tidy. I am lucky in that it’s not sterile at all. There is a huge window looking out over the yard that often has moose in it, the walls are off-white with very nice art on them, there are wood furnishings, wood floors, and stone trim. It could be so much worse.

By: lady brett

lady brett — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:13:54 +0000

this seems very dependent on situation, job, industry and personal work style.

i suppose i am lucky to work in a small office so that my coworkers judge each other based on their performance and other relevant factors.

By: SarahJ

SarahJ — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:52:06 +0000

I work in a pharmaceutical lab with radioactive materials. In some work places “messy” just really isn’t an option!
(I like reading this blog, and other blogs about organization and productivity…but I always have to roll my eyes when they assume that everybody is either a stay at home mommy or has a job sitting in front of a computer all day…)

By: chacha1

chacha1 — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:20:34 +0000

@ Samantha – absolutely. The point of the article, though, was *perception.* Whether or not an employee is perfectly productive while buried in paper and used coffee cups isn’t necessarily the point.

An employer might prefer (in fact, every employer I’ve ever had HAS preferred) that staffers spend 10-15 minutes a day keeping their desks and workspaces organized and clean. Because, going back to my point above, that workspace doesn’t belong to the employee.

It needs to be ready for another employee to step in, should the desk occupant be absent, without necessitating an archaeological dig.

Obviously this consideration doesn’t apply to the self-employed or the work-at-home. But it’s worth considering, all the same. Life in uncertain, and if a self-employed person unexpectedly needs to ask a friend, colleague, or family member to attend to business, an organized workspace can help to ensure that something essential isn’t overlooked.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:22:17 +0000

My personal preference is a clean and tidy desk, even whilst I’m working – I am more productive that way. But I understand that’s not true of everyone. The important thing is your performance, and in a short time your coworkers will know how well you work. It doesn’t matter if your desk is cluttered or not if you constantly lose papers or emails, miss deadlines or are late for meetings. If someone is productive with an untidy (not unclean) desk, then fine – I wouldn’t work that way, but they can. If they are unproductive with a spotless and uncluttered desk, then the issue is not the state of their desk.

By: ictus75

ictus75 — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:43:40 +0000

My desk is my castle. Fortunately, I work at home. Since I’m always working on multiple projects, my desk is always in an evolving state. It’s not ‘spotless,’ but I’m a very neat & orderly person, and I get a lot of work done.

If someone is getting the work done in a satisfactory manner, leave them alone. I’d rather have a good producer than a neatnick…

By: chacha1

chacha1 — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:05:01 +0000

I agree with WilliamB that the mess that affects others is more likely to be judged (and IMO is quite properly judged – I’ve spent a lot of years cleaning up after people who claimed they knew where everything was at their desk but were constantly fossicking around hunting for things and bewailing the “lost”), but on the other hand I agree with Alison that, put simply, appearances matter.

Given a choice between two job applicants with equivalent resumés, one of whom shows up in professional business attire and the other of whom shows up in jeans and a band T-shirt, I’ll hire the suit. Given two employees up for promotion, both of whom perform well by objective measures, I’ll very likely promote the one who is most professional (i.e. neat and organized) in handling hir workspace.

Workspace doesn’t belong to the employEE – it belongs to the employER, and needs to be legible to anyone in the firm.

As someone who tries to leave any given environment in a better state when I leave it than when I found it, I’ll cop to being judgemental in this area. I don’t like people who litter, either.

By: Rachael

Rachael — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:33:45 +0000

Jared-

Mind you, I never said messy room = bad teacher. I was speaking purely about the environment. I suggest you not assume a point that was not made.

By: Gary Bloom

Gary Bloom — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 05:59:03 +0000

Photographs of geniuses’ offices typically show papers and books stacked all of the place.

By: creative me

creative me — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:26:24 +0000

I have a double standard with office desks. When I worked in an away from home office, I NEVER left it messy at the end of the day no matter how crazy the workload. BUT as a work at home office, it is constantly progressing to chaos. I clean, it comes back — piles of mess and messier in, on around my desk (even the foor).

I have wondered about this duplicity of desk keeping for years. I think maybe I feel safer at home if I am in a “nest” but at work, I was feeling like I forgot something unless the desk was tidy. I would LOVE to break out of the nest habit at home I really really would!

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:04:38 +0000

It is well known at highly productive, innovative, creative organizations that “A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind”.

By: Jared

Jared — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:51:54 +0000

Rachel, your comment is based on pure conjecture. My wife is also a teacher. Her room constantly appears messy, but she also consistently has the highest scores in her school, and some of the highest in the county. She was also named Teacher of the Year, and is the most-requested teacher in the school. I suggest you consider better performance metrics than your opinion of a clean classroom.