They’re back — and acting badly! 5 etiquette reminders for RTO

More and more employees are back in the office — and they’ve forgotten how to act around co-workers.

From loud, personal conversations to Birks and shorts in the workplace, etiquette seems to have fallen by the wayside.

So HR leaders and front-line managers probably need to pass along some etiquette reminders as companies overwhelmingly return to office (RTO).

Success with etiquette reminders

In fact, 45% of companies already offer etiquette training, and another 20% plan to offer it in the future, according to a ResumeBuilder survey. Probably not a bad idea, considering 90% of organizations plan to have people on-site again by the end of this year.

So, if you don’t offer etiquette training, should you? This might persuade you: 65% of the companies that offer training say it’s “highly successful,” and 34% say it’s “somewhat successful.”

Proof in the pudding, you might say.

Here are the top etiquette concerns in the workplace now — and the etiquette reminders you’ll want to pass along or cover in training.

1. Conversation

Certain conversations are polarizing and not appropriate for the workplace. Yet some employees forgot or never knew this. That’s probably why more than 75% of the leaders in the study feel they need etiquette reminders on small talk and proper conversations in the workplace.

First, remind employees what’s not appropriate in your workplace — and that usually falls under these age-old categories: politics, money, religion and sex. They aren’t meant for small talk and they all have the potential to turn into harassment or bias suits.

Less a topic, more a bad habit, gossip is another subject to avoid: Don’t talk negatively about other people. Don’t share sordid stories about their personal or professional lives.

2. Attire

We’ll admit: It’s not easy to tell employees how to dress. But 75% of company leaders think it’s something that must be addressed.

Problem is, some employees have forgotten what’s OK at work. Others have gotten used to a remote work wardrobe and don’t realize it’s not the same as an office wardrobe. And the youngest generation in the workforce — Gen Z — might have never learned either way because they were never in the office.

To help with attire etiquette, review your workplace dress expectations with everyone. Or create guidelines based on the new norms in your company.

Then, to get employees to fully understand what’s expected, share what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable. For instance, “Please wear shoes with solid or rubber bottoms, preferably with a closed toe. Please avoid flip flops.”

3. Writing

Even though we’ve spent the last few years outside the office sending email and other professional correspondence, nearly 70% of leaders think there’s a need to brush up on writing etiquette.

Some of the problem is employees use informal communication tools — text, chat, social media apps — more than formal business communication tools, email being the most likely. So informal practices have bled into email.

With etiquette reminder training, you’ll likely want to include tips such as:

• Open and close with a collegiality
• Provide enough information or links to more details so the recipient can act/respond
• Avoid emojis and inappropriate language
• Only include recipients who need/want the information, and
• Remember: Email is a written record of everything!

4. Feedback

The pandemic and working from home affected well-being. In that time and under those circumstances, there’s a chance some employees have changed how they give and receive feedback. That’s why 70% of employers feel there’s a need for etiquette reminders on feedback.

It might be time to create a formal system for critical feedback so managers have tools to deliver it with sensitivity and objectivity. For positive feedback, you might give them reminders to hand it out more often.

And on the other side: Because employees might be more sensitive to feedback, consider some training on how listening, responding respectfully and asking questions when they receive feedback.

5. Soft skills

A couple of the issues brought up in the survey pointed to a lack of (or decline in) soft skills. For instance, respondents said others don’t make eye contact or proper small talk, understand cell phone etiquette and/or respect others’ views.

While they’re not the only people to struggle with these issues, Gen Z got the lowest ratings on soft skills.

“Gen Zers get criticized for lack of professionalism, which is code for not having the ‘soft skills’ needed to be effective at work,” says ResumeBuilder’s Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller. “My preference is to call these ‘professional skills,’ as that truly emphasizes their importance in the workplace.

“Gen Z candidates never had the opportunity to learn these skills on-site as their experience in college or entry-level positions was remote due to the pandemic,” Haller says.

But soft skill etiquette training wouldn’t hurt anyone. So you might want to add some examples and scenarios to help employees recognize when they need to lean into soft skills.