It goes without saying that how we present ourselves, communicate with others, and behave on the job is important. Afterall, good manners and professional etiquette are the lubricant that keeps workplace culture strong and productive. Well, maybe this bit of common sense isn’t as common as we’d like to think.

A recent trend in workplace training suggests that employers think there’s a good chance some people will have forgotten how to “play nice” when sandwiched back into offices together.

Resumebuilder.com surveyed more than 1,500 business leaders and found that 45% of respondents said that they are now offering their people office etiquette training. Another 18% said that they would do so soon. The reason: Employees returning to the office after the covid pandemic need some help remembering how to behave in a public workspace.

Inappropriate behavior

Almost all of the survey respondents who are already offering etiquette courses said they’d been successful — “highly” successful for 64% and “somewhat” successful for 35%.

Here are some of the reasons the business leaders gave for implementing etiquette training:

• Younger employees needed help with general office etiquette.
• Miscommunication had arisen about what’s office-appropriate.
• People were schlumping into work in “very casual” clothing. (Pajamas?)
• Inappropriate office behavior was starting to raise complaints of a hostile work environment.
• The company was now interacting with customers on a more regular basis.

Polite conversation

What exactly do these etiquette courses consist of? More than three-quarters of respondents — 78%, to be precise — said they were teaching or reminding employees “how to make polite conversation.”

Other popular topics included:

• Dressing professionally (included in 75% of training)
• Writing professional emails (69%)
• Taking constructive criticism (69%)
• Making polite eye contact (56%), and
• Taking appropriate lunch breaks (44%)

Mandatory for all

Just how necessary do businesses think such training is? Well, here’s an indication: 60% of those offering or planning to offer it say it will be mandatory for all employees. A further 19% say it will be mandatory for some employees, and 21% say it will be optional for all.

So if you’re concerned about employee behavior in this new/old environment, you might want to think about providing some guidance. Afterall, years of working alone in our homes wearing sweat pants has surely taken some toll on our ability to play nicely together in the same sandbox.

This blog entry is based on the following post on Resumebuilder.com, 07/11/23: “Half of Companies Give Office Etiquette Classes as Workers Struggle With Appropriate Conversation, Dress.”