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All nine employees of TheSquareFoot.com in New York City have neat, clean desks -- except one.
纽约网上商业地产租赁与经纪公司TheSquareFoot.com九名员工的办公桌全都整洁干净――只有一个人例外。
Co-founder Jonathan Wasserstrum's desk and the floor around it are strewed with paper, files, tech gear and old boxes. 'I like being near my stuff rather than fishing for it in a cabinet somewhere,' he says.
该公司联合创始人乔纳森・瓦塞尔斯特鲁姆(Jonathan Wasserstrum)的桌子及附近的地板上四处散落着纸张、文件、科技设备和旧盒子。他说：“我喜欢东西放在身边，不喜欢在柜子中的某个地方找东西。”
Being near Mr. Wasserstrum's stuff is harder for Justin Lee, the company's other co-founder. At times, 'some of his crud will spill over onto my desk,' Mr. Lee says. Other co-workers at the online commercial real-estate leasing and brokerage company sometimes print new copies of documents to avoid handling food-smeared paperwork from Mr. Wasserstrum's desk.
对于该公司另一名创始人贾斯廷・李(Justin Lee)而言，坐在瓦塞尔斯特鲁姆那一堆杂物附近更是难以忍受。他说，有时候“他的一些脏东西会蔓延到我的桌子上”。有时候为了避免触碰瓦塞尔斯特鲁姆桌子上沾染着食物的文件，其他员工会重新打印文件副本。
With more employees working in open-plan offices and shared workspaces, look for more clashes over clutter. The average space allotted per worker has dropped as much as 21% since 1997, according to the International Facility Management Association in Houston. Storage space is shrinking too, and not everyone is keeping up with the push for a paperless office.
随着越来越多的雇员在开放式办公室和共用办公空间中工作，因为杂乱出现的冲突也越来越多。休斯顿国际物业设施管理协会(International Facility Management Association)的数据显示，自1997年以来，每名员工分配到的平均办公面积减少了多达21%。储物空间也逐渐缩小，而且并不是每个人都跟上了无纸化办公运动的步伐。
Just the sight of all the piles can stress out neat co-workers, distract them from work and even hurt their performance, research shows. Pressuring mess-makers to clean up isn't easy, however, and it can backfire if they take offense.
有研究显示，单单是看到一堆堆杂物就会使爱整洁的员工心情烦躁，让他们无法安心工作甚至有损于他们的工作表现。然而，迫使乱象制造者进行清理并非易事，而且把他们惹恼了还会产生逆反效应。
'It's very tricky,' says Judith Bowman, a coach and author on corporate etiquette. 'The appearance of your desk or work area is hugely important. But it's so personal. Criticizing someone's messy desk is like telling someone they're dressed sloppily or have a dirty house.' It is best to try to inspire by example, experts say: Make over your own desk, or hold an officewide de-junking day.
企业礼仪培训师及企业礼仪作家朱迪丝・鲍曼(Judith Bowman)称：“这个问题十分棘手。你的办公桌或办公区的外观极其重要，但它又是非常私人的事情。批评别人的桌子杂乱就像对别人说他们的着装邋遢或房子脏乱一样。”专家建议，最好的办法是尝试去启发：整理你自己的桌子，或者设立一个全办公室范围的大扫除日。
Messy people have many rationales. Some say they work too fast to stop and file things. Others say the clutter itself is an organizing system. Krista Lamp says her piles, including client paperwork and magazines she must read, serve as a visual to-do list. 'If it's out, I know I have to attend to it,' says Ms. Lamp, a San Diego public-relations consultant.
邋遢之人也有自己的许多理由。有些人说他们的工作速度太快了，停不下来将东西归档。其他人则称那些杂物本身就是一个有组织的系统。圣地亚哥公关顾问克丽丝塔・兰普(Krista Lamp)说，她那一堆堆杂物（包括客户文件和她必须读的杂志）是直观的待办事项清单。她说：“如果这些东西变少了，我就知道我得注意了。”
One common explanation, that clutter can aid creativity, has some support in research. Researchers at the University of Minnesota found in a study of 48 students published last year that people working in a messy room came up with more creative ideas for new uses for ping-pong balls, compared with participants in a tidy room. 'Being creative is breaking away from tradition, order and convention, and a disorderly environment seems to help people do just that,' says the study, published in Psychological Science.
一个常见的解释――凌乱的环境有助于激发创造力――得到了相关研究的支持。明尼苏达大学(University of Minnesota)研究人员对48名学生展开了研究，他们发现与整洁房间中的受试者相比，在凌乱房间中工作的人想出了更多有关乒乓球新用途的创意。该项研究指出：“有创造力意味着打破传统、秩序和常规，而杂乱无序的环境似乎有助于人们做到这一点。”该研究结果去年发表在了《心理学》(Psychological Science)期刊上。
Lucas Donat, chief executive officer of Tiny Rebellion, a Santa Monica, Calif., ad agency, regards his clutter as the mark of a busy, productive person. 'To me, it's a system,' he says.
加州 莫妮卡(Santa Monica)广告公司Tiny Rebellion的首席执行长卢卡斯・多纳特(Lucas Donat)认为，凌乱的环境表明他是一个忙碌、富有成效的人。他说：“对我来说，它是一个系统。”
Amir Haque, the agency's chief strategist, who shares an office with Mr. Donat, admits he sometimes envies Mr. Donat's ability to perform well with a messy desk. Mr. Haque says he strives to keep both his email in-box and his desktop clear, and constantly tries to improve his organizing skills through reading and research. 'I do look at Lucas's freer style, and I'm sometimes envious,' Mr. Haque says. 'It's madness, in a mad-scientist way.'
该公司首席策略长、与多纳特共用办公室的阿米尔・哈克(Amir Haque)承认，有时候他会嫉妒多纳特在一张凌乱的办公桌旁也表现优异的能力。哈克说他会尽量使电子邮箱收件箱和电脑桌面保持整洁，并不断尝试通过阅读和研究来提高他的组织能力。他说：“我也会观察卢卡斯的自由风格，有时候我很嫉妒。那是一种疯狂，一种疯狂科学家式的疯狂。”
Clutter can be hard on neat people. Kelly Giese, an account supervisor at Bailey Lauerman, an Omaha ad agency, says she knows the mess on and around the desk of her colleague Carter Weitz helps fuel the stream of new ideas he generates. Mr. Weitz, the agency's chief creative officer, says he writes ideas as they come to him, saves items that spark new thoughts, and tapes sketches on the walls. 'Clutter generates a sense of positive energy,' he says.
凌乱的环境会让整洁之人难以忍受。奥马哈(Omaha)广告公司Bailey Lauerman的客户主管凯莉・吉斯(Kelly Giese)称，她知道同事卡特・韦茨(Carter Weitz)桌子上及桌子周围的杂物激发了他想出的一个个新灵感。韦茨是该公司的首席创意长，他说他会在灵感出现时把它们记下来，保存激发新想法的物品，把草案贴在 上。他说：“凌乱会营造出一种正能量感。”
Ms. Giese, whose desk is immaculate, has no argument with that. Still, she can't resist trying to tidy up. She often arrives early for meetings in Mr. Weitz's office and covertly straightens up his conference table, putting paper in stacks and tossing empty soda cans and coffee cups. So far, she hasn't gotten caught.
吉斯本人的办公桌整洁无比，但她对杂乱的桌面并无意见。尽管如此，她还是会忍不住设法去清理它们。她常常早早来到韦茨的办公室参加会议，偷偷地清理他的会议桌，把纸张一堆堆放好，扔掉空汽水罐和咖啡杯。迄今为止她还没有被发现过。
Clutter can be damaging in other ways. Some 57% of 1,015 adults surveyed in 2012 by Adecco, a staffing and workforce-management company, have judged a co-worker based on the cleanliness of his or her workspace. Also, 28% of employers say they're less likely to promote someone with a disorganized workspace, according to a 2011 CareerBuilder survey of 2,662 hiring managers.
凌乱的环境会在其他方面造成损害。人力资源管理公司艺珂(Adecco)在2012年对1,015名成年人进行了调查，调查发现约57%的人曾根据同事办公空间的整洁度来评价其为人。此外，凯业必达公司(CareerBuilder)2011年对2,662名招聘经理进行的调查显示，28%的雇主表示他们不大可能提升办公区杂乱无序的人。
Ms. Bowman, the business protocol coach, says managers should step in if a colleague's mess hurts the team, causing lost documents or missed deadlines. Some employees haven't learned organizational skills. A more senior colleague might offer to mentor the employee, saying, 'I notice that you're a bit behind in your filing. I'd be happy to share my system,' she says.
商业礼仪培训师鲍曼认为，如果某员工的凌乱状态损害了整个团队，造成文件丢失或错过最后期限的情况，这时管理者就应当介入。有些员工没有学习过组织技能，她建议资深一些的员工或许可以提出为这名同事提供指导，比如提议说“我注意到你的文件归档进度有些滞后了，我很乐意和你分享我的归档系统”。
Lindsey Coyle tries to 'lead by example' in hopes that her messier colleague, Grace Emery, will clean up. Ms. Coyle, an account director at a San Francisco public-relations firm, scrubs her own desk often with sanitary wipes and keeps it tidy.
林赛・科伊尔(Lindsey Coyle)是旧金山某公关公司的客户总监，她希望通过“以身作则”来引导办公空间杂乱的同事格雷丝・埃默里(Grace Emery)进行清理。科伊尔经常使用卫生湿巾来擦拭自己的办公桌，并使它一直保持整洁。
She draws the line when Ms. Emery's mess spills over onto her workspace, however, and gives her 'a gentle nudge,' Ms. Coyle says. Ms. Emery, an account executive at the firm, admits that 'lunch leftovers and piles of migrating paperwork' sometimes get out of control, and says Ms. Coyle's example is helpful. Ms. Coyle says she recently handed Ms. Emery a wipe to remove 'a really obvious' jelly stain.
科伊尔说，当埃默里的杂物蔓延到她的办公桌时，她会划定一条线，然后“轻轻地推一下”埃默里。埃默里是公司的一名业务经理，她承认“吃剩的午饭和一堆堆位置不固定的文件”有时会失去控制，而科伊尔的榜样是有帮助的。科伊尔说前不久她递给了埃默里一张湿巾让她擦去“一处非常明显”的果冻污渍。
A few employers hold annual decluttering days. At the Square Foot, Mr. Lee has started weekly cleanup sessions. Mr. Wasserstrum says he plays along, 're-stacking my stacks.'
一些企业会设立一年一度的大扫除日。在Square Foot公司，李发起了每周一次的大扫除时间。瓦塞尔斯特鲁姆说他也会参加大扫除，“把我一堆堆的东西重新堆一遍”。
At the Motley Fool, an Alexandria, Va., provider of investment research and information, Managing Editor Eric Bleeker says his clutter -- porcelain rhinoceroses, sleeping bags, foam guns, Seattle Seahawks memorabilia, cellphones, tablets, computers and batteries strewed over his desk and floor -- makes work more fun. It provides fodder for conversation and play, he says. But if he wants to concentrate on a big project, he moves to a different room.
弗吉尼亚州亚历山大市(Alexandria)投资研究与信息服务商Motley Fool的执行主编埃里克・布勒克尔(Eric Bleeker)说，他的那些杂物――陶瓷犀牛摆件、睡袋、泡沫枪、西雅图海鹰队的纪念品、手机、平板电脑、电脑和电池散落在桌子和地板上――让工作变得更有趣。他说，这些东西给谈话和玩乐提供了素材。不过，如果他想集中精力做一个大项目，他会搬到另一个房间去。
Co-worker Joel South kids his colleague about the mess. He recently threatened to call Mr. Bleeker's wife to complain. For Mr. Bleeker's birthday next month, Mr. South, an editor, is planning a surprise gift -- something so large and useless, he teases, that Mr. Bleeker will 'have to move his chair out to make space for it.'
布勒克尔的同事、编辑乔尔・索思(Joel South)也会以此开他的玩笑，最近他还威胁说要打电话给布勒克尔的妻子进行投诉。索思说，他正为布勒克尔下个月的生日准备一份惊喜礼物，他开玩笑说那是一件又大又不实用的东西，布勒克尔将“不得不把椅子搬走来给它腾出空间”。
