Clear desk policy or “no Linda you don’t need 10 teddies on your desk you’re a 42 year old woman”

[Strafficy]

I’m at the end of 2 weeks annual leave and clearing out emails.

Member of the team has taken the opportunity of me not being there to start an email thread with my boss about my clear desk policy and how unhappy she is. Boss rather bemused and “can you talk to XXX when she returns”

I started 6 mths ago and have asked all staff in my division to have a clear desk for a number of reasons

1. piles of paperwork everywhere some of it years old and I want them out of the habit of printing everything (one member of staff was printing all their emails!)

2. We are supposed to hot desk and it isn’t fair on part timers when they come in to sit at someone’s desk when it’s piled high with family photos/teddies/half eaten bowls of cereal

3. Frankly some of them are bloody unorganised and needed a kick up the arse

4. confidential information left all over the desk for anyone to see

This staff member has done nothing but complain about it since day 1. I’ve had just about enough now

Just say that again and start disciplinary if confidential info is left out, totally unprofessional.

Clear desk policies are fairly standard now, particularly where you also have a hot desking policy.
Leaving confidential information around must be a breach of data protection or security policies and if repeated where I work could end up in disciplinary action.

I’ve had a few battles, I ended up clearing one person’s desk myself, putting it all in a bag and telling them to take it home. I had another long running ‘discussion ‘ with someone who had a fixed desk and festooned it with Christmas decorations, included flashing lights in October. He was told to remove them or I would until 1 Dec. And no lights. He tried it again the next year, and the next. He lost.
Linda would not like me.

If your manager is behind the the policy then repeat the need for Clear Desk and reasons for it. Don’t show any irritation that she went behind your back. She’ll get the message that whining to your manager gets her nowhere.
Some people don’t like hot desking. I can understand that, but where the policy exists for valid reasons then they have to abide by it.

That used to drive me mad. Family photos, teddies, all manner of clutter, along with crisp crumbs, half drunk cans of pop etc. Somebody had a gonk/troll thing with the hair. He came back from holiday and WW3 broke out because he said someone had messed with it's hair and demanded to know who.
This was when we all had our own desks but others would need to use yours if you weren't there.

Clear desk policy all the way for me.

Get your office cleaner on board. Everything that’s left behind is cleared into a bag and you have to go through it (and other people’s shite) to get it back. Rinse and repeat.

Your boss is a bit of a wet nelly referring her back to you. I'd be unimpressed with that.

I think there’s probably room for some compromise here.

Does anyone have a permanent office where a clear desk policy actually works? Not seen it myself.

So people have regular desks but you also have a hot desking policy?

Which is it? Because a hot desking policy means a different desk every day.

Quite frankly teddies and family photos on desks wouldn't bother me in the slightest, if it's a regular desk and you've only got some one else using it one day a week.

Confidential material should always be stored as per GDPR guidelines.

Why are so many people eating at their desks?

@MistySkiesAfterRain I did - permanent office, hot desk policy and clean desks worked every day as we had suitable lockers and suitable rest space (and time) for breaks.

Our hot desk policy literally said we couldn't sit on the same desk twice in a row, had to sit outside our office 1/2 a week and should try not to sit next to project members for communication reasons.

BBC at MediaCity do, and have done since they moved in. Also the branch of the Civil Service that I work in at the moment - we have 1400 staff and only around 800 desks. Most people are at a site visit once a week and in normal times work from home once a week - works really well.

Also huge difference between clear desk policy during the day and hot desking policy where desks must be cleared at the end of the day.

@MistySkiesAfterRain

Does anyone have a permanent office where a clear desk policy actually works? Not seen it myself.

Or me. It works with hot desking where the requirement is obvious but I can’t see - confidential documents excepted - why it would even be necessary if people always use the same desk.

Our hot desk policy literally said we couldn't sit on the same desk twice in a row, had to sit outside our office 1/2 a week and should try not to sit next to project members for communication reasons

That just seems like deliberately making people unsettled and less efficient. Bet it didn’t apply to senior management.

I want them out of the habit of printing everything

And before your implement this you should probably be aware that printed material is far better to read for most individuals than reading on screen - particularly those who are not neurotypical.

@HeddaGarbled it applied to everyone - including senior management. It was actually really good as you got to sit next to and discuss things with senior managers outside of your direct line management structure.

[quote EyebeIbewe]@MistySkiesAfterRain I did - permanent office, hot desk policy and clean desks worked every day as we had suitable lockers and suitable rest space (and time) for breaks.

Our hot desk policy literally said we couldn't sit on the same desk twice in a row, had to sit outside our office 1/2 a week and should try not to sit next to project members for communication reasons.[/quote]
What, specifically DO NOT sit near people you’re working with on a project? Sounds mad.

We have clear desk/hot desk policy and tbh I reckon hundreds of hours a week are wasted with the computers unable to cope with having so many different people log in to them. They clear desk bit works fine though (as long as people have lockers).

What on earth were they trying to achieve with that, EyebeIbewe, did they justify it in any way?

FoxgloveSummers "TRY NOT TO"

And it was to encourage further communication and ideas outside of our direct project / management lines - it was really, really good (I thought I would absolutely hate it but it was way better than sitting in project bubbles).

We did and it worked well after the initial grumbles (from myself as well as others!) We had lockers and shelf space to keep things that needed to stay at work.

We put one in place at my old work. Set out clear guidelines, gave everyone appropriate, accessible and lockable storage and gave them a week to get things cleared. Everyone had their own desks then, personal items on desks were limited to two work-appropriate photographs. Sent reminders of the date for change.

Then a week later we (management with HR present) went round after hours and did a sweep with bin bags. Honestly you'd be amazed at the amount of stuff we found which included:

-Company confidential information, lots of it
-Confidential personal information , payslips, return to work interview forms, hospital appointment letters etc
-All manner of teddies and general junk, lots of clothes and shoes (under desks). We'd said we didn't mind one pair of shoes if people needed to change after travelling but this was people with half a bloody shoe rack

• Food

-Alcohol -A small poster stuck to a notice board which said 'Jesus is a c* on it

• Inappropriate magazines (not porn but things like Zoo, this was a few years back) and a topless calendar

But the best was a tobacco tin with three rolled joints and a lump of drugs in it!

Next day we told everyone that we'd cleared the desks and they were welcome to come and collect their items and take them home. Funnily enough the owners of the booze and joints did not come forward (but action was taken). The owners of the posters, magazines and calendars did!

It worked well, we'd do a sweep every 3 months or so after that but people soon realised not to leave their crap everywhere and to store confidential information properly.

I’m a nester. Not photos and teddies, but stationery in the top drawer, folders of frequently referred-to resources in the bottom drawer, list of frequently used codes on the wall in my sight-line (etc). Having to negotiate other people messing up my systems would be irritating and time-wasting.

People are different. I believe quite strongly that it’s wrong to force everyone into your own mould and expect everyone to work well under regimes that are laid down from above and into which they have no input.

The can of pop that one woman kept permanently on the go turned out to be neat gin when we did a desk sweep.

I don't really get having pictures on your desk or teddies and other clutter, i need a nice clear desk to work at.

I am retired 10 years now but implemented a partially clear desk policy that worked. it was NHS so all patient related paperwork had to be put away if the staff member was going to be away longer than to pop to the loo and only then provided that the office wasn't being left empty. Last person out was responsible for clearing during the day and individuals were responsible for clearing their own when they finished for the day or were to be out of the building (community workers) personal office stuff was allowed, so eg a mug with pens in but no photos teddies and so on. eating drinking allowed at desks as we had nowhere else but luckily we all agreed on hygiene standards and anyone who didn't got team disapproval. We didn't formally hot desk but as the team was bigger than the desk space, it tended to happen. Loads of us were part timers including me so not a problem. The one time I came in and found the office empty and paperwork everywhere I cleared it all into the locked storage and "accidentally" took their only key home with me. Came in to total panic and while I wasn't popular that day it never happened again....it wasn't really the only key but as manager I held the other one no one was keen to ask me for it given the circs!

Is there adequate storage? (Not for crap like teddies)

Just before lockdown we started hotdesking, but we weren’t given any space to store anything, so not only could we not store our mouse, keyboard etc, there wasn’t anywhere to store paperwork so not only could confidentiality not be maintained, lots of things were lost, misplaced etc.

They then twigged providing enough lockable storage would mean that only 2/3 of staff could actually work.