Writing this article was a real challenge, mostly because it took me all morning to find my keyboard under the horrors littering my desk: piles of paper, mould-filled mugs and a random collection of objects with no apparent use in the workplace – a potato peeler, tapes for a dictaphone lost years before I was born and, finally, a collection of Christmas cards I failed to send. This is my work space.

If the thought of a desk buried under an avalanche of papers and potato peelers makes you want to curl up and weep bitter tears, you'll be pleased that the government is spending £7 million on teaching civil servants to keep their workplace from looking like someone let off a whole box of grenades nearby.

Staff at one HM Revenue and Customs branch have had strips of black tape fixed to their desks to mark the 'optimum' position for keyboards, telephones and stationery. The £7.4 million programme, Lean, introduced by consultants Unipart, aims to improve the performance of public sector workers; but will a strategically placed stapler really impact upon productivity or is it a colossal waste of money?

A slightly overpriced cleaning bill?

"Do I think it is a waste of money? Absolutely!"says HR manager Karen Bailey. "Humans are just that – humans; and treating them as parts of machines that can be conditioned and confined is always a mistake because we can't detach our personality and leave it at the door. You think we would learn!" Training consultant Nik Kellingley agrees: "As the seven million for this training is effectively coming out of the tax payers' pockets, I think as a member of the public I'd like my money back on this one please!"

However, company director Sam Newell argues the opposite: a tidy workplace is more efficient and improves productivity, however ridiculous a £7 million cleaning bill sounds. "From my experience of performance improvement project I imagine the £7 million will be spent on an awful lot more than just getting people to keep their desks tidy. In a working environment where tasks completed are repetitive, such as a call centre for example, by reducing 'waste' such as time spent before answering calls and time spent on administrative duties, more calls can be taken and productivity can be improved.

"It works, it's that simple and that's why most of the leading manufacturing organisations worldwide have adopted Lean thinking and now a large percentage of financial services organisations are following suit. Many public sector organisations lack efficiency and focus, high performance and public sector are not normally used in the same sentence. The fact that this group are actually doing something about it should be commended not criticised."

Letting it all hang out

Aside from the financial cost of the scheme, is it really a smart strategy to force employees to keep their desks tidy along regimented guidelines? HR manager Lynn Hebb gives a list of 'personal' items hanging around the office that would easily rival Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game: "a pair of trousers, a pair of skis, a DVD player, one high heel shoe, a neon pink wig, several roles of birthday wrapping paper, a front bicycle wheel, and an electric whisk (cake making thing). I don't understand how anyone can forget to take these things home, or more to the point, why do they bring them in to work?" However, perhaps this long list of discarded items proves that the employer is actually doing something right: "Having said that, it is probably a huge compliment that employees feel good enough about the working environment that they do bring these in to work and feel relaxed enough to 'let everything hang out'," she adds.

"Overall I think a tidy office is better for everyone and it creates an impression for visitors that the company has got things under control," adds Hebb. "However, unless there is a strong and friendly culture, such a sterile environment I would imagine could mean that staff are more inclined to leave to go home early and spend less time in the office working." HR director Sue Morrison agrees about the importance of striking a balance between a barren desk and an avalanche of paper threatening to collapse and crush you: "I don't think it is fair to treat all employees like robots, denying them any individuality. Admittedly, some people go a little too far, effectively setting up barriers around themselves, with photos from home and fluffy animals, but I would hate to work in a soulless environment – just like Scrooge's office.

"I am horrified that public money could be spent on such a project – a tidy desk doesn't always make for a tidy mind and efficiency… Sometimes it just leads to work being hidden at the back of the drawer!" adds Morrison. Ultimately, a careful recruitment strategy and a strong training programme is key to improving the issue of a desk masquerading as a bomb site: "A more profitable way forward is to ensure that the right person is recruited for the job, given the right training to do it and monitored to ensure it gets done."

Training for success?

"Spending huge amounts of money training in a basic behaviour like tidiness is always going to sound silly – particularly if it is inevitably billed as a health and safety issue," points out Hebb. "However, you can see it in a different way. The armed forces spend huge amounts of money training their people to be tidy. It is vital to be clean and tidy in a military situation as it saves lives! Just as important, though, the training in being tidy is actually about attention to detail and maintaining the highest of standards. These two attributes keep the armed forces at the top of their game. Perhaps the civil service are actually trying to get some pride back into the service and to raise standards and attention to detail. No bad thing.

"Having thought about it, if we get a much improved Civil Service with higher standards, the money will be well spent. However, the question is whether the training will be effective. There is a strong traditional culture in the Armed Forces which backs up the training – I'm not sure the Civil Service has this culture," she adds. "Training people to keep their desks tidy is a waste of time," argues Kellingley. "If you are habitually messy (like me) then you just move the mess somewhere else (filing cabinets, drawers, under the desk) in the same way that many people when told to "tidy their room" as children threw things under the bed instead.

"I think there's no way this training could be perceived as anything else but patronising by most people and would have a negative impact on morale accordingly. "What kind of idiots do they think we are? I don't need to learn how to tidy my desk!" even if drowning in a sea of paperwork," he says. "If they want a clear desk policy, they need to introduce one, spell it out and enforce it. A simple e-mail communicating this and then having managers (treading lightly) putting it into practice is likely to be more effective and less insulting."

Tidy desk, productive mind?

The debate rages as to whether being able to actually see your desk means you're a productive, happy soul; or if it just means you don't like putting your hand in a half-eaten sandwich every time you reach for the keyboard. Hebb suggests that a tidy work space at least gives the impression of control and organisation: "We have just had a senior member of staff join us from a global computer company where 'hot-desking' is the norm. Their desk is completely cleared every night – no mess or clutter! It makes it easy for our cleaners and actually anyone else who needs a 'resting spot' to find somewhere to sit when they are not in. It also does give you the impression that they are very much in control! So maybe that is the best way to be!"

Bailey argues that the government's £7 million project will actually cramp creativity and a tidy boss is really hiding behind a much tidier personal assistant: "The issue of tidy desk is more than just a case of being messy – it's about your personality and how you work. Being tidy and organised is not everyone's skill in life and forcing them to be something they are not will actually impact upon their productivity. I am a very untidy worker (but I am very creative!) and when I was forced to work with a clear desk policy I found it caused me stress as I spent more time filing and tidying than I did working. The funny thing is I am perceived as being highly organised by those around me!

"Ok if your desk is sliding onto someone else's desk you may need to have a tidy – but what harm does it really do? Forcing people to work in a certain way confines them to behave in a certain way – what is wrong with finding real solutions to assist people as individuals? I would hazard a guess that the boss is a tidy person (though I do find having a PA substantially improves your chances of keeping a clear desk…) and they have mistakenly taken a tidy desk to mean a productive workforce a link that has been shown to be time and time again a fallacy."

However, despite being guilty of labouring under a mountain of mess, Kellingley argues that productivity is directly affected by your ability to file and retrieve documents easily: "I think tidy desks are probably more conducive for most people's sanity and if you work in a job where bits of paper are really important (they aren't in mine) then they can end up impacting on performance hugely. If you spend ten minutes a day searching for something that was "just here a moment ago" then by the end of the year you'll have wasted a couple of working days looking for stuff."

Down with drawers

There is, of course, an easy solution: remove employees' desk space. HR director Rosemarie Loft says her current employer has little storage capacity and thus there's no choice but to keep things tidy and simple: "I am currently working for a part of the Home Office and because of space shortages across all of the buildings, personal storage has been removed. No drawers at the desks, no pedestals… all that we have is a small locker (about nine inches cubed) to put everything, and this is at the far end of the building (not even in the same office). Additionally, there is a waiting list for these lockers for new staff, as there aren't enough for everyone. So… desk tidying?!"

By Sarah Fletcher