I have read that employees who decorated their workspace tended to be more engaged or committed than those who did not, but not sure about clutter.

Clutter can take many forms, and it can reflect someone who 1) is really active, working hard, and is highly involved in projects, or 2) someone who is not organized, doesn't care about their workspace and isn't engaged. I think more definition of "clutter" would be necessary to really generate a viable hypothesis on this one.

hope that helps!

It depends on what is the nature of work. Probably employees whose nature of work require them to be more social at work or need to deal with clients are more neat as compared to lone rangers like IT guys who dont interact much outside world and are less social at work.

In today's competitive business world, any positive change is likely to create competitive advantage. A neatly dressed employee in a neat workplace is certainly going to provide a positive impression in the mind of visitor or customer. Even in manufacturing or IT industry, the organized workplace provides better working condition, thereby leading to higher productivity. Further neat dressing adds to personality of an individual. Hence it is desirable to be organized to create  positive impact  to make a difference.  

As a sincere practicer of Total Quality Management (TQM), I follow 5S methodology in daily life at work and also home. The answer is "YES" - Neat employees do perform better than employees with cluttered work spaces. This is a simple consequence of 5S methodology. Neatness, organization, standarization & sustaining play a long way in good performance & productivity of a business organization or institution.

       1. Seiri ("sort")

• Remove unnecessary items and dispose of them properly
• Make work easier by eliminating obstacles
• Reduce chance of being disturbed with unnecessary items
• Prevent accumulation of unnecessary items
• Evaluate necessary items with regard to debt/cost/other factors.

        2. Seiton ("straighten" or "set in order")

• Arrange all necessary items in order 
• Prevent loss and waste of time
• Make it easy to find and pick up necessary items
• Ensure first-come-first-serve basis
• Make workflow smooth and easy

      3. Seiso ("clean" or "shine")

• Clean your workplace completely
• Use cleaning as inspection
• Prevent machinery and equipment deterioration
• Keep workplace safe and easy to work

        4. Seiketsu ("standardize")

• Always maintain high standards of housekeeping & workplace organization
• Maintain cleanliness and orderliness
• Maintain everything in order and according to its standard.

       5. Shitsuke ("sustain")

• Keep in working order

  [Source:  http://bit.ly/1ufdQMU (Wiki) ]

Best wishes,

Sundar

Undoubtedly clean work space helps to indicate that an employee is well organized and likely to be more productive in routine works.

OfficeMax found that office clutter undermines productivity and motivation. “Your performance coincides with your workspace,” says Dede. “When it’s organized and precise you have the mindset and motivation to work.”

The Japanese 5S principles as detailed by Sundarapandian precisely does that. A neat workplace is always provides better productivity because the employee known what is available where precisely.

Here are a few links that help with the process.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/03/27/the-dangers-of-a-messy-desk/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/09/messy-work-space-creativity-desk-tidy-healthy_n_3721818.html

If one has a mental and emotional bonding with his work place, he or she will be bothered to keep it clean . something like a lady in her kitchen, organized and bit possessive too

I agree with Jennifer. I also feel that people who have a de-cluttered  working space tend to be more efficient and engaged, as it gives a good feeling. Cluttering puts a lot of stress. The video attached also shows that the engaged employee has a clean desk, among others.

I am sorry, the video on de-cluttered office that  I wanted to attach is here. I forgot to press the Add your Answer button.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDe8_F4mh2A

According to me, a night and clean workspace creates a positive impact on other people in the surroundings and also highlights key facets of an individual's personality to some extent such as a good organizing ability, making orderly arrangements.  This might give good impression about an individual's personality being a productive and efficient co-worker and also help in professional networking to some extent, however, it cannot be considered as a sole indicator of an individual's performance. An individuals's performance is contingent upon many other factors such as the way an individual feels enthusiastic about his or her work, the level of importance and association he or she feels in a given work profile, the level of persistence he or she maintains while overcoming the challenges at workplace.  Despite being low on organising ability or neatness, the utmost dedication and involvement displayed by an employee while pursuing the job assignments is more likely to add to an individual's effective performance.

The 5S program focuses on having visual order, organization, cleanliness, and standardization. Cleanliness is a dimension of the working conditions at workplace.

The following report entitled: "Scientists find physical clutter negatively affects your ability to focus, process information" by Erin Donald studies this case.

Researchers at the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute published the results of a study they conducted in the January issue of The Journal of Neuroscience that relates directly to uncluttered and organized living. From their report “Interactions of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mechanisms in Human Visual Cortex”:

Multiple stimuli present in the visual field at the same time compete for neural representation by mutually suppressing their evoked activity throughout visual cortex, providing a neural correlate for the limited processing capacity of the visual system. See more at the link:

http://unclutterer.com/2011/03/29/scientists-find-physical-clutter-negatively-affects-your-ability-to-focus-process-information/

I have read a number of good contributions here. However, I think that a total mess in the work space & an exaggerated neatness are both unacceptable. A total mess occurs when you search for certain papers that are suddenly needed & you spend long time searching for them between heaps of papers or files. Extremely neat or clean places, such as chemical laboratories, do not impress "brainy" persons because these labs are indicative of no work or "superficial" work.

Simple persons are the ones who are impressed by appearances or pretence. More educated persons will look for deeper aspects. In my opinion, reasonable tidiness & little disorder are fine. When I was a student in the "good old days", I saw little decoration & nearly no exhibitionism in the offices of my noble professors.

This image of Steve Jobs (ex CEO of Apple) in his office should help dispel any notions of what a cluttered work space represents

These are all very useful ideas and information that I will follow. Thanks!

Dear Deborah,

I'm smiling because my impression is that Mr. Jobs' office appears neat compared to the cluttered offices I've seen. Thanks for the photo. :-)

Neatness is in deed a good trait a person possesses. It connotes balance and timeliness. However, there is no scientific basis that it is positively correlated to productivity. a person who is obsessed with neatness may forget about performing her/his job and expend all her/his time cleaning up the desk. I have observed a lot of successful people career and profession-wise who are a mess with regard to "office". The reason- they are so focused and obsessed with their jobs that they forget their meals, their social lives, their loves----the arrangement of their tables.....

Neatness reflects the personality of a person, However, Any place where Work happens bounds to be come dirty during the process, to clean in the immediate opportunity enlightens the work place.

To start a work, a clean workplace (right from Kitchen to Industrial Workshops) will really motivate the members.

Dear Krishnan:

I agree with you that "neatness" reflects the personality of a person. The same is applicable to workplace also. In the 5S methodology, seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke, the third one "Seiso" stands for "clean". In addition to neatness, the other 4 S's are also equally important, and I already translated & explained in an earlier answer on the same query. The first 'S' - seiri (sort or organize) - Remove unnecessary items and dispose of them properly - This is a very good advice also.

The effectiveness and neatness of one's workplace can be judged by this - If we wish to find an object A, how fast we can locate it in our office - this is a good litmus test.

I remember the old PhD days, when Dr. Byrnes & I wished to locate an important research paper from his desk (full of unsorted files and folers) - which was more adventurous and challenging than any research problem I worked him.

Best wishes

Sundar

Neatness is important.  I prefer more motivated to work in a clean and neat environment.

Dear Reginald, Thanks for your question shared  with me. Neatness is very important for work place. I strongly agree with Prof. krishnan & Prof. sundar.

Dirty work places are