Someone in my office moved desks today (someone left last week so there’s a little reshuffle going on as every takes another step along the hardware/seating improvement path). She¹ took one look at her new seat last week and came in today with J-cloth and cleaning fluid and cleaned out the whole desk surface, window sills and inside all the drawers.

Just to clarify, we do have cleaners, its just that they trail down the middle of the office with a hoover each evening and if we’re lucky they also empty the bins, but that’s all. You can imagine that the rest of the office has got pretty dirty in the 15 years or so since the immovable furniture was fitted!

The opportunity was too good to miss borrowed the cleaning things and cleaned my own desk. I’ve been with the company nine months and I understand my desk was empty for some years before that. I wiped the worst off with some tissue when I started but today I moved everything and gave it a good clean. The grime was amazing but the difference it makes to me is astonishing. Visually there’s no change but in reality its a complete turnaround. My workspace is clean and safe, and I’m ready to get on with the task in hand with good humour. I guess this is what they mean when they talk about Hygiene Factors in the workplace!

¹ Yes, there is another woman on my team.