One of the most active threads on the Monster message boards over the last couple of months has been “Employee keeps a messy desk.” We’ve had more than 140 posts to this lively discussion, which kicked off with this message:

I’m new to management and have a predicament I’d like an opinion on.  I have a worker who keeps a very messy desk.  I’m not a neat freak, but there are piles of paperwork as far back as mid-’07 among other things that, if someone had to fill in…would be very confused.  I’ve already lightly mentioned that it be cleaned up, then again when it didn’t happen, I actually gave a timeline of one week for it to be cleaned up…and of course, it didn’t happen.  So, is it something I should just let be and assume the employee works better in a controlled chaos environment?  Or should I step up my requests and not be so nice about it?  I’m not sure how much it is my place to tell someone to clean up their work area if it really doesn’t bother anyone but me. Thanks for reading!

The Monster members who’ve been responding to this initial post generally fall into two camps:

• As long as the employee’s work is getting done, it doesn’t matter how messy his desk is or isn’t.
• A messy desk is no doubt a sign of a cluttered mind! Continue to insist that the employee clean up his workspace.

This question hits home for me, because I’ve worked hard since starting my first professional job 10 years ago to overcome my natural tendency of allowing piles of paper to cover my desk. In my case, a messy desk often did mean I was trying to handle too many tasks at once or not properly prioritizing my to-dos (check out this article on optimizing your multitasking if you’re in a similar boat).

These days, I try to ensure that the top of my desk only contains files and papers that I need at that particular moment. When I move on to a new project, said paperwork gets filed away, out of sight.

However, I’ve also had plenty of colleagues who are organized and on top of all their projects, in spite of their desk’s appearances to the contrary. Indeed, they almost seem to thrive in what the rest of us would consider a cluttered and chaotic workspace.

I contend that we should leave employees like the one described in the message board post to manage the neatness of their own desks, unless there’s evidence to suggest that their disorganization is impacting their work. After all, don’t managers have more important things to worry about?

What’s your take?  Let us know in the comments section below, or jump on to our message board to join in the conversation there.