Work Etiquette

A meeting with a group of friends turned a relaxing dinner into a long list of complaints about work issues; There was one particularly  interesting discussion  about a “problematic” colleague who in spite of his good work, was seriously lacking in manners and personal hygiene.

It led me to thinking about common rules with relating with people at the workplace place and here are some suggestions from the September 2018 meeting:

1. Be yourself : remain authentic to who you are in terms of values. You frusttate yourself and others when there is a frequent change in personality, values or behaviour. If you find yourself trying to hard check if its really where you should be.

2. Don’t be yourself: seems to contradict the first statement but the reality is that you can’t just behave like you are in your own home. Putting feet up on desk, burping, picking your nose or having a personal phone conversation loud enough so by then of the week the whole office knows about your cheating girlfriend, controlling father and pregnant dog.

3. Please and thank you always go a long way. Nothing more nothing less.

4. Think before acting: Think before you commit to a task, make a statement or send an email. It has been said that you need to write an email as though it may appear in a newspaper, which is very true. In fact because of the data protection act, any communication surrounding an employee can be requested for as part of evidence. Also, don’t just say yes to everything, be assertive and kind about  what you can do and why you can’t. If you cannot be trusted to do the work then what are you doing exactly?

5. Over sharing: Take care not to bring overly personal issues into work. Unless they are close and trusted colleagues, they don't need to know that you have chlamydia . TMI.

6. Don’t be over sensitive, manage it. It’s life and when working with people someone will eventually say the wrong thing, whether intentional or not. That is why it’s called a professional environment which means you control the urge to scream but rather talk about it ( or send a well thought email).

7. Avoid gossip. It’s waste of time and the gossiper will eventually gossip about you. There is however a difference between discussion an issue to find a solution than just talking about a problem to fan egos or glorify in someone’s downfall.

8. Keep emails relevant and cross check who you are copying into the emails. Not everyone has to be cc’ ed.

9. Desk space boundaries and messiness are a no no. Don’t leave your delivered flowers on someone’s desk. Please throw away that banana skin.

10. Be presentable with no body odour! We spend an average of 8 hours per day at the office ,if office working and for hybrid working lets do what we can to make physical interactions bearable.

Do these rules still apply? I came up with 10, what others can you think of ? Comment below.