A majority of 300 HR managers OfficeTeam recently surveyed said: "Eh, okay, I'm cool with the clutter. I'm not going to judge." Busy hands are happy hands, and messy desks are clever desks: Nearly 10% surveyed said that a messy desk is a sign of a very "creative" employee.
So the leaning pile of paper that's about to topple on to our keyboard can be a sign of an innovative attitude and winning, innate aptitude. We're not too lazy to deal with it; we're simply too amazeballs to notice!
Here's an infographic with the official statistical breakdown of managerial attitudes toward modern employee messiness:
We still have a way to go, though. You'll notice that nearly one-third surveyed (32%) said a "messy" work area is NOT okay, and it's enough to make them wonder about our "effectiveness" on the job. They may even question our penchant for professionalism.
However, employees might in turn wonder about a microbemanaging manager who is obsessed with work area cleanliness and starts making snap judgments about our work abilities. Living up to some managers' unattainable expectations of clutter control around the office can be an incredibly stressful way to work. It's time consuming, not to mention creatively draining, since valuable mindshare is spent looking for clever ways to hide our coffee cup behind a three-tiered inbox so the boss can't see it.
I left a slight coffee ring stain, therefore I am!
It's important for managers to keep their expectations somewhat in check to avoid creating an employee morale problem. Maybe it's a good sign that the majority of modern-day HR managers are willing to tolerate at least a certain level of employee clutter. Let the work bags roam free!
Of course, "mess" is becoming a relative term in the cubicle-free 21st Century. What does it mean to be "messy" as our work clutter moves online? Sure, our work area looks spotless, but we can't find the updated document we "just saw" on our desk(top). Where did it go?! It's probably somewhere in the cloud, or in a re-named file somewhere. Hmm. Too bad we can't hide our coffee cups in a ghost database. Yet.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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