Posted on 01/07/2007 2:07:36 PM PST by Dallas59
Black tape has been put on the desks of civil servants to show them where to put their pens as part of a £7m Government 'efficiency' drive.
It is the latest idea from consultants being paid to come up with so-called innovative ideas to improve the working environment of public sector staff.
The tape is also used to mark out exactly where the computer keyboard should be placed, as well telephones. Previous novel thinking by the consultants included a desk ban on family photographs - along with any 'inactive fruit'.
Staff representatives described the idea, which is being piloted by hundreds of staff who process National Insurance payments, as 'madness'. They point out that shift workers share desks - so must repeatedly adjust the black tape, depending on the length of their arms.
But Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs - which is paying consultants 7.4m for so-called Lean programme - said the tape would help to keep desks clear of clutter. Officials said it is 'much better to work in a tidy work environment where everything has its place'.
A HMRC spokesman, attempting to defend the outlay, said: 'Part of the Lean processing is to clear the workplace and only keep essential items to hand. 'This is in line with the workstation ergonomics training that all our staff receive and complies with the display screen equipment regulations (2002).
'The markers on desks are used to demonstrate that it is much better to work in a tidy work environment where everything has its place. Staff involved have confirmed they prefer the tidier workspace.'
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), more used to its members being bound-up in red than black tape, disagreed. It said asking staff to place tape on their desk in order to keep a pen in the right place was 'demoralising and demeaning'.
PCS branch secretary Kevin McHugh, who represents workers at the huge Longbenton National Insurance complex, in Longbenton, near Newcastle, said it would lead to endless re-arranging of desks.
He added: 'If the person coming in after you has longer arms, he will have to move the markers," he said. 'This office has been open for 60 years and people have managed to find their pens and staplers without consultants helping them in that time.
'Marking the desks tends to get members upset sometimes when they've got personal photographs on their desks and they have to move them around. 'But to tell the truth, once Lean moves on to the next office people tend to ignore it.'
Last year, it emerged tax collectors subject to the same Lean project had been ordered to take down photographs of spouses or children as it may make them unproductive. Managers at HM Revenue and Customs offices in North Wales were told staff to tidy up their desks and remove their family snaps.
According to a leaked memo, it was supposed to encourage 'efficient business processing'. The edict also banned workers from keeping food on their desks and restricted them to just one cup, pen and pencil.
Fruit was only allowed if it was 'active' - jargon for whether or not it was about to be eaten. So-called 'inactive' fruit was outlawed. PCS members in HMRC centres across the country took strike action last July as the Lean system - which the union claimed leads to "de-skilling" of civil service work - began to be introduced.
A further work to rule protest followed in October.
Actually, I have never been a very good employee. For this reason, i might mistake "inactive fruit" to be one of the former hall monitors trying to implement the "efficiencies". Hard to say where I might stuff it (or him).
That being said, the most efficient way to measure the success of a new program like this is by it's acceptance and implementation in the work force. If it actually aids in productivity and focus, they will warmly receive it.
I somehow doubt this to be true in this particular case.
Now in the private sector they'd do it far different. Larry and Bobby Tisch actually used lasers to help align the desks at their insurance company perfectly.
Their rule was no paper on the desks overnight, so everyone had to put everything away.
Larry thought he could get away with that at USPS ~ just put all the mail away in the evening ~
Consultants and private sector geniuses are all like that.
Clearing the desk messes up the sort and leads to inefficiency as people search fruitlessly for lost documents.
If it's outa'sight it's outa'mind, and the work will never get done.
Consultants are another reason why the Second Amendment was devised and given such prominance in the Constitution.
LOL!!
"and took the money."
LOL. Definitely a lesson for us all: Never argue with a paying client.
"along with any 'inactive fruit'. "
The tape is a stupid idea, but I can see getting rid of the inactive fruits.
And repressed workers are supposed to be happy productive workers? Oh, I guess they taped over that too. Who did they hire, Monk?
Really!
And the employees don't mind being treated like idiots?
I would NOT make a good government employee.
If *that* is London, well, good luck to them.
An expensive exercise in trying to herd cats.
Same here. We had an anal-type who once at a meeting preached "A cluttered desk bespeaks a cluttered mind".
I asked, "What does an EMPTY desk indicate?"
I think the "rules" mentioned in the article are really an experiment in social psychology. They want to see how far the maze-running mice can be pushed before there is finally an indignant and righteous explosion with great loss of Life.
It MUST be some monsterous experiment- Spy cameras everywhere, fines for Improper Use of the Dustbin, ER employees not allowed to interrupt their lunch for emergencies, a sadistic and murderous National Health. I think I shall take a quick peek at one of the papers right now:
What do you want to bet that someone files for a civil disability claim, maybe for mental health issues or anxiety attacks, and then gets lifetime disability at 75% pay.
All because a neatnick busybody needed to collect a paycheck, and all of the administrators were too coward to tell them they had stupid ideas.
The bean counters would have a heart attack if they saw my desk.
I hear the voice of John Cleese while reading this.
Ah, yes, the Cubicle Police!
At one place I worked, mere workers could not have high-backed chairs (even though there were plenty to go around) because that type of chair was only for managers!
At another place, they regularly inspected cubicles for tidiness. They actually roped one cubicle off with "Do Not Cross" yellow tape, because it wasn't up to their standards!
I'd would have suggested that for $1 Million US, saving Her Majesty $6.4 Million Pounds. Thats what I would have called efficiantcy.
Exactly - poor application and execution of a sound production philosophy.
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