FOUR in 10 employees admit their home working space is ‘organised chaos’, with empty snack packets, plates and cutlery, takeaway coffee cups and children’s toys cluttering it.
A poll of 2,000 adults who work from home revealed the mounds of useless artefacts that swamp WFH workspaces, with fish tanks, makeup and cat treats also among the items.
While 14 per cent work in ‘junk rooms’ in the house – surrounded by boxes, dusty exercise equipment or old furniture.
It also emerged 13 per cent have used glasses littering their space, as well as Post-it notes (32 per cent), snacks (13 per cent) and discarded branded merchandise from the company they work for (five per cent).
The study, commissioned by technology solutions provider, Brother UK, found eight in 10 have a dedicated workspace for their WFH days, although 39 per cent confessed this is messier than their in-office alternative.
Despite this, 87 per cent think a tidy desk can impact your productivity when working, with 89 per cent claiming their current home set up increases their efficiency.
Greig Millar, chief revenue officer at Brother, said: “Where the pandemic marked the beginning of a remote working structure to be adopted by businesses across the world, we’re now four years into the widely adapted working model.
“And we couldn’t help but wonder at the actual condition of peoples’ home working environments.
“Our research shows that professionals are letting their WFH setup fall by the wayside because it’s a space personal to them and not something they’d be as judged on by their colleagues – but we also know that messy spaces can impact our productivity.
“While so many of us are time-poor, finding ways to maintain organisation without requiring too much effort can have a positive impact on your workday.”
The study also found 54 per cent think their working from home space needs a refresh.
A quarter (26 per cent) want a dedicated room to work from, with spare bedrooms (20 per cent), living rooms (15 per cent) and dining rooms (nine per cent) currently the most common spots.
Just 34 per cent have their permanent set up in an office or study.
It emerged that while 42 per cent would like to have a tidy more often, 36 per cent claim a lack of time prevents them from doing so.
While 28 per cent feel overwhelmed by the task and 26 per cent don’t seem the point if as others aren’t physically around to see it.
As a result of this, 21 per cent admit they care less about how neat their home workspace, according to the OnePoll.com data.
Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) always tell themselves they will have a clear up but just never seem to get around to it as much as they’d like.
And 22 per cent have a sneaky spruce of certain areas that people might see during a video call.
Following the findings, Brother has partnered with Organise-d to give employees the chance to win a workspace spruce up by heading to the post on their Instagram pages, and tagging a friend who is in need of an office declutter.
Organise-d founders Hayley Harrison and Gemma Abraham, said: “With so many employees now working from home at least a few days a week, we have witnessed first-hand the negative effect a disorganised workspace can have on not only the person’s mental health, but also on their productivity.
“A clean and tidy space means fewer distractions and therefore helps to make you more focused on the tasks in hand.
“A simple declutter, effective filing system and tech wire control are all easy ways to ensure your workspace is stress free and as calming as possible.
“We look forward to transforming the working from home office for one lucky winner – watch this space.”
