To sign on with a ‘Dear’ or a ‘Hi’, or nothing at all? If you plan to be out of the office for an extended period of time, set up an automated out of office reply to let people know you won’t be able to able to respond to their emails until a specific date. Office Housekeeping Rules for Co-Workers. A best practice for forwarding is to summarize what’s being discussed so the recipient quickly knows what you need from them. Explore our eBook, ‘Agility in HR: 4 ways to drive agile ways of working’, today. ... And unless the staff takes turns washing dishes, or you have a cleaning person who does it, ... Tech Republic: 10 Ways to Improve Your Office Etiquette (and avoid being the annoying co-worker) Writer Bio. However, if you are self-employed or using a personal email address for work-related correspondence, set up a professional email address that is appropriate for the workplace. For example, in Japan, it’s polite to inquire about the weather in the first sentence of an email. After you finish writing an email, read it out loud to ensure there are no errors. Etiquette is for everyone. Fortunately, some rules of workplace etiquette are universal. It’s a fact: poorly organized meetings can be detrimental for employee productivity. A study found that 44% of respondents said that poorly organized meetings meant they didn’t have enough time to do the rest of their work, and 33% said unclear actions lead to confusion. Find out more by reading our privacy policy, or find out more about cookies. Best practices:Identify your goal, consider your audience, keep it concise, proofread your email, use proper etiquette and remember to follow up. Discover how Sage People can transform the way you hire, manage, engage and retain your workforce, in this interactive product tour. A good rule to keep in mind is that high-context cultures such as China or Japan want to get to know you before doing business. Lunchroom Etiquette. Educate managers on feedback types and styles either via a live or virtual training session, or a guide. Less is generally more where email signatures are concerned. January 24, 2019 If writing a letter a hundred years ago was the equivalent of sitting down with someone in a quiet room and talking face-to-face, writing an email today is like yelling at someone across a noisy intersection while they’re rushing to an appointment. Include “Out of Office” and the date in the subject line so recipients can quickly recognize that they’ve received an automated response. Remember that these rules do not only apply to the people you work with, but also anyone else who occupies your office space. Emails must be self explanatory and a clear reflection of one’s thoughts. If not, let the recipient know in the body of your email that you have attached a document. Part of showing colleagues respect it showing appreciation and gratitude for good work. There are certain rules one must follow while taking lunch at the workplace. In today's relaxed professional environment, conduct is more casual, which means it's often difficult to know what is OK and what isn't. It’s also helpful to include the first line in the message as: “This is an automated message while I am out of the office.”. That means capitalizing the first word of every sentence as well as proper nouns. Let them know how you received their contact information. It’s important to check that your email has a responsive design and that it will look good on a mobile device. BCC stands for blind carbon copy, which is similar to CC except that the email recipients specified in the BCC field do not appear in the header or to the recipients in the To or Cc fields. It’s also a good idea to use if you’re sending a weekly newsletter to clients who don’t know each other and who would wish to keep their addresses private. 10. Office Lunch Etiquette. Always check the recipient’s name one last time before you send the email. Some people are lucky to work in an office where dress codes aren’t important. No exposed midriff to display tatoos and body piercing. Remember that you are addressing adults who most likely do not need specific instructions about how to use the bathroom. 3. Whether you’re a senior professional or an office newbie, here are 13 must-remember dos and don’ts of business email etiquette. 7. Be intentional about maintaining a positive tone in business emails because they lack the benefit of facial expressions and our true voices. Do not … If the meeting could work as a phone call or group chat, employees shouldn’t feel obligated to use their cameras. For example, instead of talking about “constraints” or “limitations,” try “possibilities” or “opportunities.” Rather than “faults,” try  “differences.”.