{"id":7247,"date":"2019-03-14T18:21:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T18:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/?p=7247"},"modified":"2019-04-10T19:03:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T19:03:54","slug":"hey-who-is-microwaving-fish-12-workplace-etiquette-rules-we-all-should-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/hey-who-is-microwaving-fish-12-workplace-etiquette-rules-we-all-should-follow\/","title":{"rendered":"“Hey, Don’t Microwave That Fish”: 12 Workplace Etiquette Rules We All Should Follow"},"content":{"rendered":"

The very word \u201cetiquette\u201d seems outdated, calling to mind advice columns from 75-year-old newspapers and archaic rules about what color socks you\u2019re allowed to wear after midnight. But some of these rules are simply common sense, and they bear repeating. So here are 12 workplace<\/a> etiquette rules that still hold water.<\/p>\n

1.)\u00a0Be There on Time\u2013<\/b>It\u2019s simply respectful to show up at the office when everyone else does. Your team needs you to kick off the day\u2019s work, and until you\u2019re in the office nobody knows for sure how to plan the day. If you do have to be late, make sure you contact your supervisor before<\/u> you actually\u00a0become late so they can adjust the morning schedule.<\/p>\n

2.)\u00a0Don\u2019t Interrupt a Speaker\u2013<\/b>It\u2019s hard when ideas are flying fast and furious, because everyone knows that new fresh ideas want to be heard immediately\u2026 But don\u2019t step on someone else\u2019s words. Let them finish their thought before you start to speak. It\u2019s the same kind of treatment you would want when letting loose with that new, fresh idea of yours.<\/p>\n

3.)\u00a0Don\u2019t Leave Food Overnight\u2013\u00a0<\/b>No matter how at-home you begin to feel at work and with your coworkers, don\u2019t start treating the work fridge like your at-home counterpart. Because we often don\u2019t think of the work fridge as \u201cour problem\u201d \u2013 even if our meatloaf sandwich is growing a beard in there right this minute \u2013 it\u2019s far too easy to forget your half-eaten lunch exists. From there, nature takes over, and before long we\u2019re getting the cooties from last week\u2019s meatloaf sandwich all over tomorrow\u2019s communal hummus.<\/p>\n

4.)\u00a0Make New Employees Feel Welcome\u2013<\/b>You were a new employee too, once. Remember how nice it felt when the existing employees gave you a smile or a friendly word or welcome? It\u2019s time to pass that on to the next new employee.<\/p>\n

How To Navigate Office Politics Ethically<\/a><\/p>\n

5.)\u00a0Abide the Dress Code\u2013<\/b>We all like to distinguish ourselves from the herd by dressing in ways that express our personal style, but when you break from an established workplace dress code for comfort the main message you\u2019re sending is one of disrespect for your coworkers.<\/p>\n

6.)\u00a0Stay Home When You\u2019re Sick\u2013<\/b>We\u2019re all grown ups. If you\u2019re sick, you\u2019re sick. That\u2019s what your sick days are for, even if you usually use those for hitting those sick slopes for a little hooky-flavored skiing. The math is easy: If you bring you sickness in to work, you give everyone else a chance at catching something they really don\u2019t want, and it can eventually create a real lag on productivity if you take out half of the office.<\/p>\n

7.)\u00a0Bathroom Etiquette\u2013\u00a0<\/b>We\u2019ll spare the gory details here, but the golden rule is if you wouldn\u2019t treat your bathroom at home that way, don\u2019t do it to your office bathroom. And if you do<\/span> treat your home bathroom that way, try to amend your interesting hygeine policy to allow for your coworkers\u2019 feelings.<\/p>\n

8.)\u00a0Don\u2019t Talk About Work on Social Media\u2013<\/b>It\u2019s not private, and it will get back to you even if you aren\u2019t Facebook friends with your work friends.<\/p>\n

9.)\u00a0Keep the Phone on Silent\u2013<\/b>Yes, keep those personal rings, dings, boops, and bleeps to yourself and your cell phone on vibrate. There are people trying to work here.<\/p>\n

10.)\u00a0Be Conservative with That \u201cReply All\u201d Option\u2013<\/b>Make sure it\u2019s something you really need everyone in the office to read before pulling that trigger.<\/p>\n

11.)\u00a0Respect Workplace Privacy\u2013<\/b>The idea here is not to linger behind your coworkers in a way that implies you\u2019re taking a look at their computer screen or scoping out their lunch. It\u2019s best to consider a cubicle the same as an office, only with invisible walls.<\/p>\n

12.)\u00a0Don\u2019t Microwave Fish, or Make Fun of People Who Do\u2013<\/b>That\u2019s really the heart of it, folks. If you microwave fish in the office, everyone will smell it and those who don\u2019t cotton to the smell of hot fish will be put off. However, if you are on the other end of this, and its you who has to deal with that smell, don\u2019t make a big scene or embarrass the fish-warmer. It\u2019s all about respect going both ways in the modern workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The very word \u201cetiquette\u201d seems outdated, calling to mind advice columns from 75-year-old newspapers and archaic rules about what color socks you\u2019re allowed to wear after midnight. But some of these rules are simply common sense, and they bear repeating. So here are 12 workplace etiquette rules that still hold water. 1.)\u00a0Be There on Time\u2013It\u2019s … Read full-story <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,8,6],"tags":[405,13],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7247"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7254,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247\/revisions\/7254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}