BHP document details 'desk protocol'

Johannesburg - You are only allowed to have eight things on your desk when you go home at night.

At work you may indulge in chewing gum or boiled sweets, but you may not consume chocolates or nuts.

These “work environment guidelines” are contained in an 11-page memorandum to employees in BHP Billiton’s new City Square skyscraper in Perth, Western Australia, which it recently occupied.

The memorandum leaked out and was this week’s most important business news Down Under after being published in the Australian Financial Review.

The main theme in the memorandum is a “clean desk practice” which clearly brooks no individuality among employees of the world’s biggest mining company.

This immediately reflects the strong preferences of Marius Kloppers, the chief executive of BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL], whose obsession with clinical workplaces is well known beyond Australia.

Kloppers has been known to fly off the handle when finding a half-eaten muffin on a desk in the group’s commercial office in Singapore.

Last year he imposed a slightly more lenient version of these prescriptions on the group’s Brisbane office and gave orders that an analysis sheet should be kept of odour infringements, the places where they took place and the offenders’ names.

“Clean-desk practice means that the only items that may remain on a desk at the end of the day are a monitor, keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, telephone and one A5 photo frame,” the memorandum explains.

It is accompanied by a photo of how the workstation should look.

Anything else will be removed by the night-time cleaners, who will leave a note on the desk. The building managers will then discuss the matter with the relevant department head to rectify the situation.

No plants from home are permitted - “to avoid unintended plant diseases or  maintenance issues”.

Moreover, ample plants have been provided “which are carefully chosen to ensure a green, clean and safe working environment”, says the memo.

There may be only one A5 photo on a desk. That’s no bigger than 148x210mm.

You may replace it with a company commendation if you have been awarded one, but displaying both – photo and commendation – is taboo.

Foods permitted for consumption at employees' desks include chewing gum, throat lozenges and boiled sweets.

Chocolates, fruit, nuts and other snacks are to be eaten in designated places.

 - Sake24

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