To expect a desk drawer at work?

[NotMeNoNo]

I've recently relocated to a different city/office of my large company. They are in a newly fitted out office with shiny white bench desks etc. Some of the staff have those locking under desk drawer units they brought from a previous office but I'm told that none are available for new starters.

In all my working life I've never not had a drawer or two for stationery, personal items and private papers like appraisals. Not to mention somewhere to lock my purse /phone if I was concerned about security. I've hot desked and worked in client offices and on site but this is my own permanent base office and desk!

AIBU to expect at least what others have? I'm tempted to prominently pile up a big box of tampax, some obscure flavoured teabags and a messy stack of private files and stationery on my pristine desk. Is it a thing now to have absolutely no storage at work?

YABU.

I work across several sites and have no fixed desk at any of them. I have a crate in the boot of my car that holds everything - spare shoes, coffee and tea, laptop, paperwork etc and even my mug as I don’t have anywhere to leave anything at all.

My work has no drawers. They heavily encourage a paperless environment. We do have lockers however. The last 3 jobs I have had have not had drawers for similar reasons.

Titty I've been there but this is a city office with no parking. I could cycle in occasionally and claim a locker in the changing room....

I’ve got six drawers

But I’ve also still got windows 7 so it’s not all fun and games

I'm not averse to a locker, it's the lack of any small amount of secure/personal storage at all. It's not clear desk/hotdesk policy but we try to keep the place fairly tidy and uncluttered . Project paperwork and hardcopy references have long gone from my life apart from a few textbooks.

We hot desk but do have lockers I may also have commandeered a lockable cupboard

If something is stolen from you, would the company be liable because you don't have a locker? That may be your angle.

Park a big and awkward lockable Samsonite next to your desk. Make a big meal out of getting the stapler out every time. See if a drawer unit will be procured.

My company is similar. Started off with everyone having a desk and drawers of their own. But we've massively grown and ran out of space so any new people coming through the door have a hot desking policy and no lockers or drawers.

Is it a lack of resources situation?

Tbh I do think you're being a tad UR although I agree it's a PITA.

Having hot desked my whole working life, I'm now with a traditional old school company and have my own sizable office which I'm free to fill with as much crap as I want. It is BLISS.

OP tell them you need a freaking drawer. It's a perfectly reasonable request.

I worked night shift in an office that didn’t allow (night) staff to leave anything. The day staff had desks, PED drawers and lockers. I had to carry everything to and from work each day (staples, post it notes, pens, mug, notes etc). It was a pain in the arse. I didn’t expect to leave lots of personal stuff but the essentials to get the job done and things make a cup of coffee at break time. I would have been fine with a single drawer or sharing a locker with someone else. This was not a clear desk / paperless office. They just didn’t value the night shift staff the same way as the day staff.

A group of us did start sharing a box and putting our stuff away in the unlocked, half empty, not used for much cupboard at the far end of the room but they chucked the lot in the bin one day as we shouldn’t have left any of our things in the office.

One of the reasons I only stuck around for 6 months before I found something better.

Super common. Clear desk paperless office innit?

Pain in the neck tho!

Fuck me. There’s stuff I don’t much like about my job, but I am fortunate to have a desk big enough for herds of wildebeest to gallop across, well at least they could but for the piles of files on it. We supposedly have a clear desk policy, but this basically amounts to my boss getting a bit tetchy if he can’t find something he thinks I’v got (he’ in no position to talk, though) or asking me to tidy up a bit if his boss is coming in. Also a 3-drawer pedestal. We have hard copies of personal objectives/ reports , maternity assessments etc , also used to have to keep all expenses receipts for at least 4 years (civil service) - are people really supposed to keep all their work admin at home? How does that sit with renters moving every few months - especially if they live in a houseshare with little personal space?

I suppose there are 2 ways of dealing with this situation:

1. Make sure the burden of not having a depository falls on them, or at least not you. Have to keep going backwards & forwards to get stationery? Part of your working hours. Need to keep your bag/ phone /coat with you because there’s nowhere safe? Well, clearly they didn’t mean that thing in fire drills about not stopping to pick up stuff .

2. Get your own trunk. Something that will really blend with your surroundings, like neon orange or a rusty thing covered in stickers. Because obviously if they haven’t provided anything ‘corporate ‘, it’s because they like staff to provide the corporate touch. (OK, yes, I am being very childish.)

Park a big and awkward lockable Samsonite next to your desk. Make a big meal out of getting the stapler out every time. See if a drawer unit will be procured.

Ooh that's an idea - or a big case like one of these makeup artist cases. It's fully portable so you can take it home on public transport, but look at all the compartments for all your important bits and bobs. So every day when you come in you can just open it all up and everything is available, but your desk is as clear as ever.

I bet if you look around you could find it in a nice bright colour so nobody walks into it or can steal it ...

Where I used to work we didn’t have draws. Everything was locked away but anyone could access the cupboard so it was risky leaving personal paperwork there.

I now have draws in my new job and the bottom draw is now filled with cup a soups, biscuits, snack bars, chocolate rolls etc, it is heaven

I love it! I was thinking wheeled flight case (DH) or a flowery shopping trolley.

I think I'll have to put that negotiation course into action. Oh hang on, I can't find the notes....

I don’t remember the last time I saw the surface I use as a desk (I don’t have an actual desk but the top of a cupboard), it is too covered in stuff.

I’ve not worked in an office for years but this sounds like a nightmare.

It’s all very well and good but where do you keep pens, post it notes, staplers etc?

flowery shopping trolley

Be brave and have an ASDA trolly. Customise it with a safe on the kiddie seat.

In my first school, the head decided to throw all of the teachers' desks away so we had nowhere to keep our stuff. It was a fucking stupid idea and gave everyone bad backs as we ended up marking at teeny weeny tables!

We ended up using these to keep our stuff in. They weren't bad to be honest (though I would have preferred a desk to put it under!)

A perfectly reasonable request.