No one is perfect. Being successful at your job doesn’t mean that you can never make a mistake, but the best professionals take those mistakes, analyze them, learn from them and figure out how to grow and be better because of them. On the other hand, if your bad behavior has gone unchecked and morphed into badworkplace ethics, then it’s time to re-evaluate the ways this kind of negativity is affecting your workload, your professional relationships or even your potential to succeed.
Workplace Behaviors to Avoid
If you can see yourself in any of these common workplace mistakes, you should address these bad habits ASAP:
1. Arriving late & leaving early
Everyone gets held up from time to time or needs to duck out early to meet another important obligation, but if you’re known as the “late one” in the office or are consistently taking off early, you’ll eventually be perceived as someone who isn’t truly committed to your job or your employer,meaning you’ll be involved in bad workplace ethics… not to mention you’ll likely miss important meetings or company goings-on after a while because you simply won’t be a part of things as much.
2. Perpetuating microaggressions
Microaggressions are typically subtle forms of sexism, racism or other prejudices that manifest in everyday or off-hand comments, although a microaggression could actually apply to any prejudicial or negative -- however subtle or overt -- comment towards a member of a marginalized group of any kind.
For example, mistaking a younger-looking colleague for a student (or commenting on age in general, i.e. “You look so young for your age!”), asking someone where they are really from or making assumptions or judgments in general about someone based on their perceived differences or “marginalized” status are all examples of microaggressions that take place every day across industries and workplaces.
Not only do these types of actions reflect poorly on your character, but they also alienate you from your colleagues and could potentially land you in the hot seat in HR.
3. Interrupting
Consistently interrupting your colleagues, bosses or other people you interact with professionally is a sure-fire way to erode trust, break down relationships, and just flat out annoy people. If you’re interrupting because you feel that’s your only chance to be “heard,” then you may want to have a conversation with your boss about establishing healthier communication habits so that you don’t have to resort to cutting off other people just to get your ideas out there.
4. Not giving credit where it’s due
Confident professionals understand that their success does not exist in a vacuum and are ready and willing to give credit to others where it’s due. In fact, one of the most common qualities of a good leader is being able to lift other people up and give them the encouragement and positivity they need to thrive because you know that in the end, if they thrive, you thrive.
5. Always being on your cell phone
Americans spend several hours per day on their smartphones, with a huge majority of this time spent on social media. Keeping your head buried in your smartphone throughout the day, especially in meetings or conferences, often signals a level of disengagement and distraction that isn’t among the good workplace ethics.
6. Being dismissive
Part of working with other people means being tolerant of and open to other ideas, perspectivesor thought processes. If you’re always shutting other people down and being dismissive because their approaches don’t align with your own opinions or plans, those around you will soon learn that it’s not “safe” to speak up in your presence and they may even pull back and find ways to avoid collaborating with you, which could eventually mean that you will be isolated or shut out of important projects, meetings, or talks as people try to avoid your negativity.
7. Displaying an unnecessary sense of urgency
Perhaps you’ve emailed a request or a question to a coworker. If you find yourself messaging again 15 or 30 minutes later to see if they’ve had a chance to look at your email (and it’s truly not a pressing issue), you’re likely creating an unnecessary sense of urgency that can actually offend or annoy your recipient.
Do you mark every correspondence you send as high priority, even when it isn’t? Do you put undue pressure on your colleagues to respond quickly, even in off-hours? Do you have a habit of waiting until the last minute to ask your coworkers for things, giving them only a short time to meet your request? Don’t treat something as urgent unless it truly is; be respectful of your colleagues’ time and workload, and be reasonable in the response time you expect from them.
8. Not following through
Everyone drops the ball now and then, but if you regularly miss deadlines, leave requests unfulfilled, don’t respond to emails, fail to follow up or don’t live up to the promises or goals that you set, your colleagues (and superiors) will learn that they can’t count on you.
9. Complaining
Constantly voicing your discontent at work is toxic behavior that reflects poorly on your work ethic or attitude. We all complain about challenging or difficult situations sometimes, but being known as the office “complainer” could suggest to your coworkers that you are unable to do your job effectively, incapable of taking accountability, or not able to deal with adversity.
10. Apologizing for your ideas
Do you find yourself starting your sentences with phrases like “I know this may be a bad idea but..." or “This might sound stupid, but how about if we…” If you’re constantly apologizing or qualifying your ideas and opinions, you’re not only selling yourself short but you’re also signaling to your colleagues that they shouldn’t take your input that seriously.
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