Monday, November 5, 2007

How to Avoid the Unemployment Line

When working in an office with other people you have to learn to get along, no one wants to be the odd person in the office. Here are some tips that will help you get along with your fellow co workers, and keep you on the boss‘s good side.

Disturbing your co-workers:
Being a disturbance to the rest of the office is one of the most commonly reported complaints about a worker. It is not good to be known as the noisy one in the office because what will happen is one day the boss will ask someone why the report or whatever they were working on was not done in time and to cove their butts they will blame you for distracting them from their work.

Gossip:
Thousands of people lose their jobs every day across the business world for spreading gossip around the office. Talking about your co-workers will always come back to haunt you, and eventually it will get back to someone that you are talking about the other people in the office it can cause a hostile work environment, and in many cases the one spreading the gossip will be let go to help office morale, because when employees are arguing offices tend to drop in productivity, and you never know in the corporate world the co-worker you talk about today may be your department head tomorrow.

Personal Calls and E-Mails:
Most supervisors and managers understand that outside the office employees have a life, and they know you are going to send and receive emails from your friends and family, but it is important to keep it to a minimum. It is also important to remember to make sue that your friends do not use any inappropriate language in the emails. Many companies have software that will spot the language and report it to your manager. Phone calls should be kept to your break times. It is not fair to your employer or your co-workers if you take extra time off during the day to talk on the phone keep personal calls to your own time except for emergencies, and making plans for Friday night is not an emergency.

Don’t Walk Around for no Reason:
Very often office workers need to give something to someone on the other side of the office or maybe talk to someone in another department so t not be at your desk all the time may be common, but that does not mean that sitting and talking to someone else is acceptable. It is one thing to ask someone how they are but to have a 10 minute conversation on company time is just bad work ethics on your part. If your boss sees you talking too many times instead of working you will be looking for a new job with no one to blame but yourself.

Food:
When I used to work in an office I often had to work thru my lunch and eat at my desk to get things done on time. As much as I hated to have to do it what was I going to do things have to get done on time. When this happens to you make sure the food you bring into the office is overly aromatic. The last thing you want is for someone to make a complaint to human resources, because you had some food in the office that bothered someone. This may seem silly, but trust me I have seen this happen.

Cologne and Perfume:
Work is not a night club. Many of the people you share your office space with may be fine with the smell of your perfume or cologne, but some people do not like the smell and depending how strong the smell is, it can give some people headaches, so whenever possible please do not wear any strong scents to the office.

Pimp my Cubicle:
Many people want their cubicles to reflect their personality, and they will put up pictures and jokes and little knick knacks. The problem with this is that it does not look professional when outsiders visit the office, to have a few pictures on your desk is one thing but to have a small aquarium or collectables on your desk may be a bit much for any office. Before sprucing up your cubicle make sure to run it by the supervisor. You would not want to get a letter from human resources for having inappropriate items on your desk.

Before you do anything in the office always ask yourself if it could in any way bother a fellow worker if the answer is yes then do not so it. No one wants to lose their job over something stupid.



http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/How-to-Avoid-the-Unemployment-Line/44219