There are some things in the office you just don’t do unless you want everyone with whom you work to despise you. Here are some of them.
1. Don’t ever take something out of the community fridge that isn’t yours. Stealing from people in the office is unacceptable. Stealing their portion of daily sustenance is downright evil. Lunch is a mid-day motivator. Taking that from someone will quickly create an unengaged employee. Even worse, it will foster a culture of mistrust.
2. Don’t smell. There are different types of offenders in this category. There is bad breath guy. There is the guy that didn’t wash his clothes. There is one-shower-a-week guy and his twin brother, no-deodorant guy. But the king of all bad smells is the guy that walks into your cube, office, or desk area and passes gas. There is no justification for violence in the workplace, but that could make somebody wait for you in the parking lot at quitting time. Making an office area disagreeable for others through neglect of personal hygiene will not win anyone friends.
3. Don’t touch something on a coworker’s desk without permission. We all want to be team players, but everyone has personal boundaries, even at work. Our desks, offices, or cubes are some of the real estate that we actually get to put our personal touch on. There are pictures of our families, quote-of-the-day calendars, various awards we have won, work gifts, nameplates, office supplies and other trinkets on our desks. They are in their places for a specific reason. Please keep your grubby mitts off. And never, EVER sit on my desk.
4. Don’t send non-work related email. We have enough correspondence in our inbox to wade through without your invitation to the pub for cocktails after work. Or your inspirational message of the day. Or your jokes. If you have something personal to say to me, call me on my cell phone. If it’s not that important, send a text. I’ll get back to you when I have time.
5. Don’t gossip. Seriously. If you are spilling personal details about one person to another, all that you have really told the person that you are speaking to is that you have no regard for the personal lives and privacy of others. Talk about other people, and soon no one will talk to you anymore.
6. Don’t bring in your offspring’s school fundraiser. We all like to support each other’s families, but this is unprofessional and unethical for so many reasons. Some employees may not be able financially to purchase anything. It will cause undue stress on that person if they cannot contribute, especially if everyone else in the office does. If you’re the boss, employees will feel pressured into buying something. It could also be seen as a quid pro quo that contributes to a hostile working environment if someone who makes a large purchase suddenly receives a commendation, award, or promotion. Even worse, if someone is disciplined, even legitimately, but didn’t give up any money to the fundraiser, the boss is going to have a problem with perceptions of unfairness. Most of all, people just don’t like spending money on overpriced, sub-quality calorie bombs that they didn’t need and didn’t ask for in the first place.
7. Turn your music off. If you must have music on while you work, wear headphones. Make sure the volume of those headphones can’t be heard at the next workstation. Sure, everyone along with you loves the poignant interpretations on social integration made by Milli Vanilli, but we really prefer not to contemplate them at work. Some of us also get distracted from our work by music in the work place. Please cease the aural assault.
8. Don’t park in someone else’s space. Perks are called perks for a reason. They perk up employees. If your place of employment has seen fit to designate parking places for employees, respect that. They’ve earned it, and they need it. There is no trespass more grievous and foul than a usurpation of delegated territory by an opportunistic colleague. That last sentence might even get etched into the bonnet of your hooptie if you violate this rule.
9. If you use all of the office supplies, go to the supply closet and restock them. Have any of you ever gone to the copier to make 20 copies of your presentation packet 20 minutes before the meeting only to find there is no toner in the copier? How close were you to spontaneous combustion at that moment? Using up all of an office resource and not replacing it is not only inconsiderate of others, but it makes the entire office horribly inefficient. If you use it, replace it.
10. Don’t be passive-aggressive. If you have a problem with someone at the office, be an adult and talk to them. Get it worked out. You don’t have to like the person, but you both share organizational goals. Sabotaging someone at work with loaded comments in front of others, or doing things that you know will pester them is immature and counter-productive.
There are many other norms and unwritten rules within organizations. It’s always a good idea to follow a positive corporate culture example.
No comments:
Post a Comment