Staff Management Tips

Unless you are lucky enough to get your own office, chances are  you will have your own workstation or cubicle to do your work in. Having proper office cubicle etiquette is important if this is how your office is set out. There are a few things you probably should keep in mind when working in such close quarters with everyone else.

One thing that used to drive me nuts was when someone from the next cubicle popped their head over the cubicle wall and said something dumb like “Whatcha doin?” Sometimes I’d just jump as I wasn’t expecting anyone to do that. If it annoyed me, I’m sure it annoys others too. Respect other people privacy as much as possible given the circumstances.

If someone is having a conversation in the next cubicle, don’t stick your head around to jump in and add your two cents worth unless it’s absolutely necessary. It’s hard enough working in such close quarters without having someone do that all the time.

While I have nothing against people eating whatever they please, I draw the line where the smell is just so overpowering it makes you want to pewk.  Cubicle etiquette dictates that you have your lunch in the office kitchen rather than at your cubicle. And if you do eat your lunch at your desk, it might be a good idea to put your lunch wastes in the office kitchen bin rather than your desk bin. The smell of onions and the like can be a bit off when left for hours after in the bin.

Have you ever sat at your desk and just couldn’t help but listen to the phone conversation in the next cubicle because the person was talking so loud? I remember all too well what that was like and it can make the office morale go down as well as create a lot of stress and tension. If you have to talk on the phone, try and keep the volume down. As well as that, noises your computer makes can be annoying too so turn down the volume of email alert sounds, screen saver sounds and any other beeps or buzzes your computer sound effects can make. At one stage a person near me had a sound effect when he received an email. the sound was a woman’s voice yelling out “not happy Jan!” He sent this sound effect to a lot of people  and can you imaging what it was like hearing a woman’s voice yelling ‘not happy Jan’ a thousand times a day? Enough to make you jump out of the window. Thankfully it was banned eventually in the office.

As a manager, you might want to consider sending out an email memo to everyone this sort of thing can affect. You will be surprised how many people will appreciate it and will tell you all these noises, loud conversations and smelly foods were driving them crazy. Having proper office cubicle etiquette can contribute a lot to your departments productivity and the morale of your staff.

Office kitchen etiquette in my mind is a very important one. I don’t know about you but if anyone stole anything of mine from the office fridge, I would go ballistic. In my mind there is no excuse for ‘mistaking’ your yogurt or drink for mine. It’s plain and simple. If you didn’t place a yogurt or a drink in the fridge in the first place, then it’s not yours for the taking. According to a survey taken by 2500 US office workers, 98% said that office kitchen etiquette is very important to them and thus making stealing food a big no no in the office kitchen.

At one place I worked, there was a policy that once a fortnight the cleaners would throw out whatever was left in the fridge. This included plastic containers, full drinks and yogurts and any other odds and ends left in there too. This was a good way to keep the fridge clean and mold free.

You should also clearly mark what’s yours in the fridge in case anyone forgets what is theirs. Another good idea is to post the clean out times of the fridge as well as a ‘keep the fridge clean policy’ on the fridge door.

While some can put up with swearing, rude behavior and other annoying and bad habits around the office, having a lack of office kitchen etiquette and stealing their food or drinks, is the one thing that can send them around the bend. It’s just plain rude and inconsiderate.

I was watching that movie ‘Fun With Dick and Jane’ the other night and while it was a comedy movie, for me anyway, it hit a few raw nerves even after many years. I’m referring to the story line and not the movie itself.

Basically it’s about a guy who loses his job after being promoted to Vice President of Communications and then  set up to take the fall for a CEO who tries to take all the companies pension and retirement funds for himself. The company then goes bankrupt and in the process, Jim Carey’s character loses everything. While the things that Carey and his wife do in the movie are quite funny, for me it brought home the fact that this sort of thing happens all the time. In most cases though, the people involved have an inkling that there is something wrong but for whatever reason, they ignore it. In my case, it was the worst thing I could have done.

I didn’t quite lose everything when a similar thing happened to me but I came very close. I worked for one particular company for many years and was quite happy doing what I was doing. In the back of my mind I knew something wasn’t quite right but I had no reason really to be suspicious. The turning point came one day when I was promoted to take over from the sales manager who was leaving. It meant more responsibilities and more hours off course. I was also offered a partnership in the company which would have meant taking on the financial responsibilities too. I thought about that after taking a look at the companies financial records. I signed an agreement with them pending my lawyers recommendations if it was a safe venture or not. Not long after I signed, I started to get phone calls from utility suppliers and other places. As it turned out, they faked my signature on a lot of forms and put all types of bills into my name from creditors to utility companies to minor personal loans. I got a bill for over $5000 for an unpaid telephone bill. All in all, the nightmare turned into many many tens of thousands of dollars of unpaid bills and money owed to creditors. Needless to say, the people responsible fled the state and I never heard from them again. In the meantime, it took many months of negotiating, affidavits signed, one court appearance and many visits to my lawyer to get it all sorted out. Because they forged my signature so well and knew all my details, there were a few bills that I couldn’t get out of paying. I didn’t want to go bankrupt so I managed to pay them but the heartache and pain all of that caused to my family, was sometimes unbearable. I wanted to many times just rob a bank and be done with it all, just like in the movie. But thankfully I didn’t have to resort to that.

While this really has not a lot to do with management as such, sometimes something that sounds too good to be true, usually is. Even if you are working for a reputable company, that doesn’t mean that certain individuals in a position of power are. If you are offered something and it sounds a little suspect to you, DON’T sign anything without getting advice first. It may just save you having fun with Dick and Jane like I did.