Neat freak? Or slob? - Office World News

GRAND RAPIDS, Mi-Does the image of paper piles, frayed files and lopsided labels make you cringe? If so, you are not alone. Thirty-three percent of office workers say they are 'neat freaks,' according to the Steelcase Workplace Index, a semiannual survey that gauges workplace trends in the United States. Of these highly organized employees, most are women (40 percent vs. 26 percent.)

Asked to describe themselves using common labels, 27 percent of office workers identified themselves as 'pilers,' and 23 percent describe themselves as 'filers.' 'Pack rats' constitute 12 percent of office workers, and 'slobs' make up a mere two percent of the workforce.

The survey indicates 'pilers' are more likely to be men than women (33 percent vs. 21 percent), and buried under those stacks of paper, you are most likely to find.technical professional. Younger (18 to 34 years) and older (55 years and up) workers are most likely to feel they are 'neat freaks' (40 percent and 37 percent). Middle aged workers (35 to 54 years) tend to be pilers.

Lack of elbow room may be a factor in keeping organized

'Being organized today is a greater challenge than in the past,' explains Christine Albertini, director of storage for Steelcase Inc., the world's leading designer and manufacturer of high performance work environments. 'The sheer volume of information available is increasing at an incredible rate and workers often feel overwhelmed and out of control because of it. Also, team meeting spaces have increased and individual workspace size has decreased. This means that office workers must use their workspaces, including storage, more efficiently than before.'

Each day, American office workers spend an average of 20.1 minutes organizing their work areas. According to the Steelcase study, most people ages 18 to 54 spend between six and 30 minutes organizing and straightening their work area each day, while people 55 and over spend 15 munutes or less.

Where do we put it all?

'Paper use is increasing even though much of our information is being stored electronically. Plus, workers need to store disks and other media besides paper, so storage is even more of a necessity today,' continues Albertini. According to the Steelcase study, office workers report that an average of 44.6 percent of their own information is stored only in an electronic format, 34.4 percent is stored only on paper, and 20.9 percent is stored both electronically and on paper. Curbing the paper trail appears to be easier for the office workers under age 55, as these employees limit their paper only storage to about onethird of all their information, while workers 55 years and older store an average of 40.4 percent of their information on paper only.

Although storage space often appears scarce, 56 percent of office workers believe that they and their co-workers use storage and filing furniture 'very' or 'pretty' effectively. However, the survey reveals that more than just mere paper is being stored in employee work areas. Thirty-one percent of office workers keep coats and foul weather gear, 31 percent keep food and beverages, and 25 percent keep non-work related books and magazines. These storage cabinets also hold health and beauty aids (19 percent), shoes (1 percent), and sports gear (eight percent).

Steelcase Inc. commssioned a study from an East Coast based research firm as a part of a weekly omnibus survey. The study was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 2096 employed adults, 1155 men and 941 women, 18 years of age and older living in the continental United States. The Steelcase Workplace Indes results are based on 948 participants (483 male and 465 female) who are employed full or part time and work in offices and are 18 years of age and older living in the continental United States.

Steelcase Inc., headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI, is the world's leading designer and manufacturer of high performance work environments, including office furniture systems, interior architectural products, and related products and services.

Fiscal 1998 worldwide-consolidated sales, including those of joint ventures, were $3.26 billion. The company, its subsidiaries and joint ventures employ over 20,000 people worldwide.