"Clear your desk!" They're terrifying words in most offices. But if you work for ABN Amro, fear not. It's just part of the bank's "clean desk campaign".
An internal memo from the bank's head office warmly reminds staff of their household chores and then says: "Unfortunately, we don't always think about what could happen if we just left the mess. Aside from making it more difficult for the cleaning crew to do their job, important and/or confidential information can fall into the wrong hands and personal effects may be stolen. This happens all too often."
To avoid unfortunate accidents - like memos ending up at Euromoney magazine - workers at the offices should have cleaned their working areas "to prevent papers containing details about the bank ... and any personal effects from being lost, stolen or misused". So, if you are planning to misuse anyone's desk tidy or old coffee mug, think again.
The initial clean desk campaign inspection had "shocking" results. A disgraceful 74.2% of desks did not conform to guidelines about debris on the floor, and a 82.7% didn't conform to the rule about cleaning up "manuals and reading material".