Untidy offices

Messy desks
Disorganized workplaces

Nature

Disorganized and cluttered workplaces waste time, create stress and indecision and contribute to general inefficiencies at work.

Background

The significance of untidy offices emerged in the mid-20th century as open-plan workspaces proliferated globally, drawing attention from organizational psychologists and management experts. Early studies linked disorganized environments to reduced productivity and increased stress, prompting international corporations to investigate workplace order. By the 1990s, cross-cultural research and media coverage highlighted untidy offices as a widespread concern, influencing office design standards and sparking ongoing debate about the impact of clutter on employee well-being and organizational efficiency.