Workplace do’s and dont’s, you should know about !

Working in a professional environment supposes that each employee behaves in a certain way that matches the company policies, culture and rules.

Here where company etiquettes become a crucial element!

In fact, the way you introduce yourself, interact with others in your workspace, or collaborate with your superiors, team members or colleagues, says a lot about the person you are and have a direct impact on your career evolution.

With time, experience, observation, errors, trials and adjustments once can learn a lot about what does work and what does not, what is considerate to be right and appropriate and what is not.

Because etiquette is a key element for professional success and personal evolution, this article will help you discover tips and guideline related to companies does and don’ts each new employee or fresh graduate should know before they enter the professional world as trainees, post graduate or just new employees.

• Working place etiquettes: the don’ts you must avoid 

Be it beginner or pro, you must already know that some behaviors should never leave your house door! Bringing such wrong attitude to your professional working place will do nothing then bringing you trouble that might impact your career trajectory.

Even if this may sound evident proper workplace etiquette is not an intuitive and natural thing that comes easy to each employee!

Here are some office life don’ts you should never do.

1. Don’t have personal conversations at your working desk. 

If you must get a personal call or private phone conversation while working, try not to have it at your desk while other colleagues are listening (especially if you have a shared desk with your team members!)

It would be better to have your personal chit-chat in the conference room, otherwise step outside the building or the kitchen to guarantee your privacy.

Talking about personal stuff at your desk can distract your coworkers and may open you up to gossiping, people getting involved in your personal stuff, talking behind your back…Which is not good for your image and reputation.

1. Don’t hit “reply all” to an email chain.

Before doing so you need to analyses the results and repercussions of your action if you hit “reply” or “reply all” while responding to an email.

You should consider whether the people who received the initial email need or not to be included in your reply.

This attitude will save you from the awkwardness and the embarrassment that may happen if the whole organization discovers details that where only meant to be shared with one or few persons.

To prevent this situation, try to keep your emails always professional and friendly.

Treat your emails, and corporate messages as your professional channel of communication, hence try to make each information you share appropriate for all the time, place and people who will receive it.

1. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. 

Asking questions, no matter how evident, obvious or silly they may seem will help you get the right answers, avoid assumptions, misunderstanding but mostly loose time, energy and effort on projects that you may did wrong.

Having confidence, being experienced or skilled in a subject should never prevent you from asking questions, getting an extra idea to make sure that you will do things in the right way and avoid mistakes.

1. Don’t carry your emotions to your office. 

the best thing to do here is to leave your personal emotions and stuff at your home door. Your colleague or manager has nothing to do with your sorrow, conjugal problem, children issues …if you ever feel like you can’t concentrate, proceed or work because of a personal thing that have occurred, it will be better to take some time off to sober up and take control over your emotions.

If in the other hand something or someone in the office keep bothering you preventing you from achieving your tasks, head to the human resources manager or your direct manager to solve the issue.

1. Don’t get involved in gossiping about your coworkers or your boss.

Gossiping is one of the worst sins in a workplace: so just avoid it.

While you can be lured to have a gossip moment about the company, the boss or your colleagues, you will be not hurting no one beside yourself.

Gossiping is a dangerous game that can fire back at any moment!

It can also portray you as a person who can’t be trusted, it can also put in a difficult situation if it gets to the target of the gossip.

• Working place etiquettes: the dos you should follow

1. Arrive early.

 Being on time is always a sign of respect, engagement and professionalism.

So, the best thing to do especially if you are a new employee, is to be in the workplace before your boss and to stay after he/she leaves.

Adopting this behavior will get compliments and will improve your reputation and corporate image as a serious, righteous and good employee.

In the other hand if you consistently arrive after 15 min late, you be seen as an untrustworthy and non-responsible candidate.

1. Be ready to help out a coworker.

If a colleague or a team member ask you for an advice or for help, you should generally accept, as long as you feel you can help them without interrupting your own schedule or missing your deadlines. This is a great opportunity to show your talent, knowledge and skills.

It is also a great way to make friends, allies and bring people to your side, you never know when those people might come handy.

1. Do networks with people outside of your cubicle. 

Being a hard worker, an achiever or a successful employee involve also socializing with others.

Don’t forget one of the characteristics of office life is meeting and sharing with other people having similar interests and personality as yours.

Those colleagues may give you precious advices or guidance based on their previous experience.

That is way you should take opportunities to build a strong network especially when you start a new job.

Taking a coffee break, sharing lunch, attending an internal event or office party and making yourself friendly and sociable can help you grow and advance at your career.

1. Create your personal proper email address. 

It is very common in some situations that you will need to communicate with your coworkers on weekend or after working hours for some urgent deals or emergencies.

Some company will give each employee the chance to get their personal email address while others do not. In this case you need to have a professional and appropriate email address allowing you send email whenever it is needed to your boss or team members.

Using a nick name or childish name as a professional email will make you lose your credibility and make you sound stupid, so the better is to use your “firstname,lastname”to create your email address.

1. Bring in some goodies. 

Everybody loves eating! If you love baking on weekends, bring in some cookies, cake or pie …this would be a very kind gesture to your coworkers especially when you are celebrating a new deal or big company success.

Just make sure that your colleagues are not on a diet, or do not have allergies to one of the ingredients of your preparation.

Thinking of others and wanting to share your food with them will make everyone see you as a kind, gentle and considerate person.

Now you know the workplace etiquette, try to follow the does and avoid the don’ts, to improve yourself, build a healthy working atmosphere and evaluate fastly in your career.