Desk cleanliness | Imamother

amother

Wheat

Wed, May 03 2017, 3:49 pm

Are you judged by your desk cleanliness at the end of the day? I work in an office where I'm by myself most of the day other than a storage cabinet that some people access during the day. I don't think my desk is a "mess" just "active"--meaning I often have various files on my desk throughout the day b/c I'm working on them. I deal with lots of papers, but generally I know where everything is, and I do manage to clear it most days, but sometimes if something didnt' get finished at the end of the day I will leave a file for myself to remind me to do something about it. Randomly my supervisor will come into my office, sometimes after hours, and then comment that I left it "a mess". More often than not, its on a day where I had to leave early, and I ran out of time to tidy up my desk, but its like my desk is not in direct sight of anyone, leave me alone, It shouldn't be bothering anybody. I've seen other desks that are MUCH worse.

zaq

Wed, May 03 2017, 6:09 pm

Sounds like a supervisor looking for something to pick at . I assume the issue is not confidentiality because you didn't mention anything about other people's access to your files. OTOH we have only your word that the desk is fairly tidy.

Your supervisor is the person you have to make happy. If she wants all files put away at night, do so. Try marking your active files with post-it flags, small binder clips, or even just rubber bands so you can quickly retrieve them in the a.m. and pick up where you left off.

Also, if you have unruly stacks of paper, it is a matter of seconds to smartly tap each stack on the surface of the desk so that the papers line up evenly and give the impression of being organized, whether or not that is actually the case . Do this every day before you leave. It takes literally a few seconds and makes a world of difference.

If your supervisor demands that your desk be completely free of papers when you leave for the day, it behooves you to do so, even if you think that this is an insane bit of micromanagement .

If your supervisor is not normally a micromanager, or is treating you much more harshly than your coworkers, she may be planning some other sort of discriminatory action against you. Protect yourself by keeping a log of her remarks about your desk, and perhaps take a picture of your desk to show what it look like each time she makes such a remark. You might need this as evidence of harassment. You might also want to show the pictures to a neutral third-party or two, and get their impression of just how messy your desk actually is.One person's neat-shack is another person's pigsty.

Is there a manager or someone else to whom your supervisor reports? It's not usually a good idea to go above the supervisor's head to complain, but if this individual is indeed harassing you, you may need to do exactly that. Before going above her head, try to work it out with her. Ask her to outline for you what she means by a neat desk and how she wants it to look at he end of the day. She has no right to dictate how your desk should look when you are working. That's completely unreasonable .

HonesttoGod

Thu, May 04 2017, 10:00 am

Your desk should be visible and if there are piles of paper it should be one - neat one.
My desk may look messy during the day but when I leave I make it neat.
I have one area with a few post it notes in a pile.
Any piles of paperwork I need to take care of I pile in one pile with dividers to know what it what. My pen holder and other stationery I have in one corner.

Basically, as I tell my assistant, it should be clean enough that when the cleaners come they have space to wipe down the desk.