Having an assistant tops British workers’ wish list

British workers say they need more admin support to help them be better organised at work, with nearly one in five suggesting that having someone to organise their physical documents would help. According to research by technology brand Brother, the average UK desk is weighed down by almost a stone of clutter and it’s leading to stress, spats and even official warnings from bosses.

A third of office workers blame a lack of time for their failure to keep on top of clutter, with having a PA topping the most-wanted list as something that would help improve day-to-day business.

The survey found that failure to keep on top of messy desks is leading businesses across Britain to lose out on an estimated 35.7 million working days every year, as office workers waste hours searching for lost documents.

One in ten office workers says they have been warned by their bosses about the state of their desk, and one in eight claims to have even argued with colleagues about their clutter.

While a stubborn 46% of office workers don’t believe it’s necessary to keep a tidy desk, over a fifth polled confessed to losing important documents at least once a week as a result of a cluttered desk, and nearly 20% have even mistakenly thrown them away.