No, not Ruthie’s latest fetish, but a question put to office workers as part of a national 7 Million pound “Lean” project to encourage government office workers to keep their desks tidy. Office workers were given tape to mark out on their desks where they should keep their pens, computer keyboards and phones.
Ruthie wonders about a recruitment policy that permits the employment of staff who are deemed incapable by their employers of making this type of decision. Sure, everyone knows that they ought to keep their desk tidy, but it can be tricky at times, especially when one is actually doing work upon it.
And what, pray, is an “inactive” banana? Apparently one that isn’t going to be eaten, according to logistics consultants Unipart, and should be therefore cleared away. Ruthie feels, apparently in common with the Public and Commercial Services Union, that this definition of active is far too narrow for such a versatile fruit and a number of other suggestions, particularly in relation to whoever thought that the “Lean” programme was a good idea could be made…
The more time government departments spend tidying their desks - the less damage they will do to our sceptred isle. Money well spent.
There are limits to what the wealth creating private sector can do to employ the people of Britain - which is why we need government departments to organise us and, where no immediately useful function to our noble cause can be provided - to take up the slack….
This recent report says that those with messy desks are brighter & more productive than their tidier colleagues.
My desk is very very tidy indeed.
Greetings.