I have been working in the corporate world since 2004. During my time, I’ve witnessed, and at one time or another committed, some office etiquette blunders. I thought I’d take the time to write about my biggest office pet peeves, as well as those of friends and colleagues.
‘Office’ Office Etiquette
I am going to start off with ‘Office’ office etiquette, that is, Microsoft Office, and the things you should be doing to use it effectively.
Utilize the ‘Location’ field for Conference Call Information (So it Appears in Meeting Reminders)
I attend a lot of meetings. Several a day, and dozens a week. Nothing ticks me off more than to have to click through the reminder popup to retrieve the conference call information. The meeting coordinator should put that dial-in information in the Location field. Don’t worry if you’re also booking a room; you can modify the location field after you add the room to include the call-in information. One of the worst feelings in the world is when you’re 30-seconds late for a meeting and you have one more click to get the phone number.
Only include the participant dial-in information in the location. If you copy and paste all your call-in information, some poor soul is going to accidentally dial the host number. Then the host won’t know what’s going on while everyone else is on the call waiting. The next 5-10 minutes of the meeting are wasted trying to figure out who it was.
Meeting Reminders/Recurring Meetings
Always use the reminder feature. It is typically on by default, so this shouldn’t be an issue. But once in a while, there’s that meeting that gets set up and the creator didn’t set a reminder. The next 10 minutes are spent rounding everyone up.
Make a conscious effort to properly utilize the recurrence feature. In the unfortunate instance where you must set up a daily meeting, make sure you use the proper selection of everyday vs. every weekday. Every weekday will only schedule meetings Monday thru Friday. If you quickly, and likely inadvertently, select everyday then everyone with a smartphone will get an alert on weekends. If you’re an electronic victim like me, you likely sleep with your phone inches away. There’s nothing worse than being alerted on a weekend at 8:15am to for your upcoming non-existing meeting.
This next piece could probably go into my regular ‘Meeting Etiquette’ section, but since it typically involves Outlook, I’m going to include it here. Set an end date to your meetings. I once was invited to a recurring weekly meeting. I noticed it started getting cancelled week after week. I deleted it from my calendar. It never came up for over a year. All of a sudden, the meeting organizer sends the invite again to occur every week without an end date. So I assume they want to start it up again. So the meeting time comes, and the meeting doesn’t happen. What the heck?
Attendees: Read the Information Before you Email a Question
Sometimes you have to have a special password or a bit of key information you need to share with users. One would think putting “THE WEBEX PASSWORD IS 123ABC” in big bold letters right in the subject of the email invite would get their attention. To my amazement, people clicked the link to the WebEx, and then followed up via email with “Hey, what’s the password to the WebEx?”
Organizers: Send the Agenda Before the Meeting
For weekly meetings, you send out the agenda right after the meeting. Between then and now I get 577 more emails. So when the next meeting rolls around, I have a hard time finding the minutes from the previous meeting. So either send it out again right before the meeting (which nicely reminds people of the upcoming meeting) or make it available on SharePoint (which is probably a better idea since the most recent document is in a central location.)
Meeting Etiquette
I’ve mentioned some of these in the past, but they are worth repeating.
Be On Time, Start on Time
Be on time for meetings. If you’re joining a meeting via conference call, dial in a minute early. If it’s in person, try to be right on time. Don’t be the person that has to be constantly reminded that they’re supposed to be attending a meeting, and then shows up 2 minutes late.
End on Time
Be respectful of other people’s time, and end the meeting at the scheduled end time. People have a lot of other things to do and going late messes up their schedule. In the event that the meeting looks like it’s going to go longer than scheduled, end at a good stopping point and schedule a follow up.
Don’t Schedule Too Early/Too Late (Factor in time zones)
It should be an unwritten rule that no meeting should start earlier than 9:30am or 4:00pm. When people first get to work, they check e-mail, follow up on the last minute things they couldn’t finish the night before, etc. At the end of the day they wrap everything up.
You should make an effort to leave work on time. You’ll feel better, have more time to do non-work related activities. In most non-emergency situations, it’ll all be there in the morning. A difference of 4:55pm tonight and 8:35am tomorrow morning won’t mean much a month from now. Abstaining from scheduling meetings in those early and late hours helps avoid working late.
Factor in the time zone when you are scheduling meetings for people in different locations. Try to be respectful of the 9:30-4:00 rule taking into account in their time zone.
Respect the Conference Room Booking Process
Every company has a different method of booking the conference room. Whatever the process, It should be respected. The same employee will go from “I booked the conference room at this time” to “Oh I didn’t think we still used that system to book the room.” Use whatever system your company follows, and stick to it.
Interrupting People When They Are in a Meeting
The following is a true story. I was in a meeting where people could see inside the conference room from the main area. A co-worker was looking for me and realized I was in the conference room. So first they just stared at me from outside the door. I gave a face that said, “I’m in a meeting we can chat later.” They stared at me for another 5 seconds. I had my computer at the meeting, and noticed an email came in. It was from the gawker, “I need help with xyz.” To which I replied, “I can’t help you right now, I’m in a meeting. I can help you when it is over.” They were persistent, “But I really need help with xyz.” I knew it could wait. So now I’m losing focus on the meeting because this person thinks they have an emergency.
This next scenario has also happened to me a hundred times. I’m on a conference call in my office. Someone peeks in and one of three things happens. Rarely, they make a face that says “I’ll come back later” and leave. More often than not, they look at the phone to see if you have it muted, and then just start talking as if my meeting isn’t important. Occasionally, they don’t even have the decency to do that, and just start talking anyway.
If you need to talk to someone and they are in a meeting, whether it be a in person or a conference call, wait for them to get out of it before you sidetrack them.
Attendees: Respect the Meeting
I try to schedule as few meetings as possible. So when I do, it’s usually for a good reason. I also keep my meetings as short as possible. So for the 20 minutes I ask you to meet with me, put the phone down and give me your attention.
For those dialing in, we can hear everything around you. This includes, but isn’t limited to: chewing food, driving in your car, and the barking dog.
Organizers: Don’t Have Meetings for the Sake of Having Meetings
I’ve mentioned this in the past: Limit the number of recurring meetings. If there isn’t a reason to meet, cancel the meeting.
Try to limit who you invite. Don’t invite someone if their time is better used somewhere else.
In the Office
This section has to do with communication and respecting others while physically in the office.
Don’t Take Advantage of Cube Location
There are three main spots where this is typically abused: the bathroom, the kitchen, and the exits.
Like the children’s book says, everybody poops (more on this later). Don’t pounce people on their way in or out of the bathroom. Don’t make people think twice about going to the bathroom because they’re worried they’ll have to go through you. (Side note: Who knows, maybe it makes them more productive, I read somewhere that people make better decisions when they have to pee.)
Everybody goes to the kitchen, likely multiple times a day. Don’t make people go hungry or thirsty because they’re worried they’ll get stopped every time they go to the kitchen. At the same time, respect the people whose desks are near the kitchen. Don’t heckle them for the two minutes and thirty seconds it takes to cook your Hot Pocket.
Everybody in the office has to come in and exit through the front door. Don’t stop them. When they’re coming in, they probably haven’t had that cup of coffee yet, have all their belongings strapped on their shoulders, and just want to get to their desk. When they’re leaving, they just want to get home. The last thing they want is for you to say, “Hey, got a minute?” as they’re almost out the door. It’s never a minute.
I used to work with someone who was so bad at this that I would have a co-worker leave at the same time as me and we would pretend to be engaged in serious conversation just so we could get out. Also respect the people who work near the front door. Don’t start up a conversation with them on your way back from your cigarette break, coffee run, etc.
Beginning of Day, End of Day Interruptions
Let people settle in when they get into the office. Give them a good 20 minutes before you hit them with something if it can wait. At the end of the day, leave them alone for the last 20 minutes to wrap things up. People typically designate these beginning and end times to gather all their thoughts and tasks.
“Working Through Lunch”
I’m probably not working through lunch. I’m probably catching up on my RSS feeds, reading the news, taking my mind off work. The last thing I want when I’m eating my sandwich is for you to come in and talk about work.
Quota on Interruptions
There should be a quota on how many times, whether in person or electronically, you are allowed to interrupt someone. I’m all for interaction, but when I’m trying to work on a specific project and you visit every 20 minutes, I lose focus.
Speakerphone
In offices with thin walls, use speakerphone sparingly. In cubicles, use speakerphone only if you’re the only one left in the building. Someone once told me a story where three people all within 10 feet of each other, all on the same call, were all on speakerphone. One person was in an office with the door open, one in the next office over with the door closed (I may have been the victim here), and one in a cube across from them. You could imagine how annoying the delayed voices were on the various speakerphones.
Personal Calls
Be aware of your surroundings. No one needs to hear about the status of your latest medical condition or what’s for dinner. Talk softly or go outside.
Food & Cleanliness
Don’t be ‘that guy’.
The Water Cooler
I’m all for being green. Go ahead and re-use that water bottle. Just don’t stick the mouth of your bottle up and over the spigot. Chances are you weren’t that good at Operation as a kid, and that bottle is going to touch the spigot. If your hands (or anything else) touch the spigot by accident, do the right thing and give it a wash.
Replace the water cooler when it’s empty. If you are strong enough, offer to replace it for others. If you’re not, ask someone for help. The same could be said for filling up the coffee pot.
The Fridge
If you brought something in but decided not to eat it, you are responsible for seeing that it gets thrown out. If you bring something in to share, you are responsible for seeing that it gets thrown out after it’s edible time has passed. No one wants to see, or smell, a furry science experiment weeks later.
If you didn’t bring something in but want to eat it, too bad – it belongs to someone. Don’t steal food.
The Sink
Your mother doesn’t work there. And even if she did, you’re an adult. Wash your dishes. When they’re dry, put them away.
The Microwave
That soup that just exploded all over the inside? Clean it up.
Bathroom Etiquette
When I walk towards a urinal or toilet, I don’t want to see a foamy pile of pee waiting for me. Flush. Then, wash your hands. I don’t care if you didn’t get anything on them.
Shut the light off when you’re done, and leave the door cracked. Don’t keep people waiting making them think you’re still in there when you’re long gone.
If you made a mess, for whatever reason, clean it up.
Final Thoughts
Leave a comment if you have a good office etiquette story. Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts when I talked about creating this post.
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