Polite behaviors and decorum are mandatory in a productive workplace. For a business, etiquette reflects culture and workplace practices. It involves working professionally and maintaining a proper manner of engaging with co-workers. Etiquette is what a person says and does when people are looking and listening ( Richardson, Yaapar & Amir, 2016). In a workplace environment, etiquette is a set of manners that meet the expectations and requirements that an organization stipulates. Importantly, basic etiquettes in a business environment are noticeable both when present and absent. For workers, it makes them stand out among people and increase their chances of career progression. For a company, it is the foundation of success in a competitive business environment. As new employees come into the organization, they have a set of norms from the external environment that differ from the rules and expectations in the company. It is the role of the human resource manager to fine-tune the new employees based on the business etiquette that is acceptable in the company. The human resource manager, therefore, needs to make the new employees understand the benefits of etiquette and also provide them with tips to enhance their level of workplace etiquette for professional development.
The Importance of Training New Hires about Proper Etiquette in a Workplace Environment
Through training new workers about etiquette, the business builds a strong relationship between the new workers, the existing staff, and the clients. Good manners foster a positive relationship among people in the workplace and the community at large. People work well with new employees who are polite and honest ( Richardson, Yaapar & Amir, 2016). For example, if an employee is honest about a mistake, it is easy for the manager to trust such a person. With trust, it becomes easy to build a good relationship between the new employee and the existing staff. Therefore, training the new workers to remain honest and trustworthy by building on their etiquette is a path towards enhancing a smooth transition into the company. The new workers will also have a chance to meet the company’s clients. The first impression is critical in retaining clients. In this sense, the human resource manager needs to train them on proper etiquette to ensure that they have an honest, respectful, and candidate interaction with the clients on their first meeting ( Mahajan et al., 2019). Proper etiquette on the first meeting between a new worker and a client will define the future of the client’s interaction with the company. Training the new workers on proper etiquette is, therefore, a way of enhancing a mutual relationship between the clients, the staff, and the new employees.
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Training the recruits about proper etiquette is the best approach to enhance appropriate communication strategies and skills that eliminate misunderstanding that could be costly to the entire company. The human resource manager must understand that communication remains to be a vital tool for effective operations in the company. Therefore, training new staff on proper etiquette means fostering better ways of communication between them, the existing workers, and clients ( Koutava, Carvalho & Guinot, 2019). With appropriate workplace etiquette, the new workers can master a respectful way of interacting and communicating with other staff despite the complexities of the language. Notably, even if a person does not understand or too fluent in a particular language, communication will remain effective as long as respect and trust remain as the bond between the communicating parties. It means that a new employee with proper workplace etiquette can mix with other staff and communicate appropriately and respectfully with them despite the culture shock, and the complex workplace environment. The new employee who masters the etiquette training will actively listen to others as they talk, provide meaningful feedback, smile while interacting with others, pay attention, speak clearly, and avoid any language that is offensive or inappropriate for a work environment. In that sense, such a worker is likely to get all the instructions and avoid making a simple mistake that stems from misunderstanding.
Training employees to understand the scope of workplace etiquette that extends beyond the spoken words is critical for the company’s productivity. Workplace etiquette is not only about the verbal language, but extend to include non-verbal cues. In this sense, it is the role of the human resource manager to make the new workers understand that the way they dress and appear before their fellow staff and clients communicate volumes about their etiquette ( Jackson, Lower&Rudman, 2016). In this sense, they need to dress as per the company’s requirements and expectations. They need to avoid provocative dressing that makes other staff uncomfortable in the workplace. Etiquette also pushes workers to be mindful of diversity. It means that workers have to be mindful of what they say and the manner they treat people from different cultures. In this way, an organization can develop a culturally sensitive workforce, and this is good for their image.
Beyond the spoken words, etiquette also involves respecting space and time while in the organization. The human resource manager needs to make it clear for the new workers that they must be mindful of the time they arrive for work. They have to be punctual to help other employees accomplish group objectives and organizational goals. Furthermore, new workers must understand the space. They need to respect each other and work with them professionally. Notably, workplace etiquette is an unwritten code of conduct that is critical for enhancing organization productivity ( Ryan & Earles, 2019). They create rapport, trust, cohesion, and togetherness, all of which are tools for improving better performance for an organization.
Techniques of Training Etiquette in the Workplace
Creating awareness among the new workers about techniques for creating good impressions is the right approach that most human resource managers use to train new staff on how to behave in the workplace. An impression is critical in the business environment because it set the tone of the interaction between the staff, managers, and clients. Therefore, training the new workers the best way to create a positive impression by making them aware of means of creating an impression is a productive idea. The training approach can include teaching and demonstrating to the workers on techniques of standing while speaking.
Furthermore, it can entail demonstrating and teaching the new staff on the best ways to use friendly facial expressions and the use of non-verbal cues such as eye contact while interacting with people ( Massimino & Turner, 2017). In other cases, some organizations also create awareness on such issues as dressing code and the manner of greetings while interacting with each other. The emphasis is on appropriate and respectful dressing and handshaking while greeting. In such cases, the training can focus on correcting the new staff, having a meeting with them, and outlining the plan and also creating awareness about politeness, respect, and kindness.
Besides, some organizations value communication training by organizing educative programs and training new employees on the best ways to communicate with clients and to the staff. The new workers must learn the best ways to communicate with the clients through different forms of communication devices such as telephone, emails, or letters. Rolling out educative programs to formally train through coaching and lecturing the employees on cellphone etiquette is usually a productive way of teaching the new employees to behave well while interacting through cellphones and emails. These could mean training them on means of receiving phone calls and directing them to the right people. It also means lecturing the employees on the right language and form to write business emails to the clients to enhance professionalism while interacting with the clients.
Other organizations organize mentorship programs where the new employees have a chance to interact with some of the workers who have good track records on workplace etiquette ( Kim, 2018). The opportunity to interact with such successful workers and share with them broadly on the best ways to communicate with people in the organization usually bear fruits. Though training to facilities better behaviors among new employees in the workplace varies, creating awareness, mentorship, lecturing, and also demonstrations are some of the best techniques most human resource managers use to ensure that the new employees behave appropriately in the workplace.
Conclusion
Training the new employees to understand and apply appropriate workplace etiquette is beneficial both to the employees and to an organization. For the new employees, they will need to learn proper means of interacting with the existing staff and the clients. Appropriate interaction relies on politeness, trust, and honesty. Developing such traits are paramount for successful career development. For an organization, having proper means of training employees to build appropriate workplace etiquette is critical in enhancing performance by eliminating misunderstanding and creating a cohesive workplace environment.
References
Jackson, K., Lower, C. L., & Rudman, W. J. (2016). The crossroads between workforce and education. Perspectives in health information management , 13 (Spring).
Kim, Y. (2018). Learning Framework based on Public Open Data for Workplace Etiquette Education. Knowledge Management Research , 19 (1), 133-146.
Koutava, I., Carvalho, L. Z., & Guinot, G. (2019). Handbook: Disability &Inclusion in the Workplace (No. CERN-HR-Note-2019-032).
Mahajan, H. P., Milchus, K., Harris, F., Linden, M., Moon, N., & Sanford, J. A. (2019, October). Do co-worker interactions impact workplace participation of people with disabilities?. In ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY (Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. 239-239). 530 WALNUT STREET, STE 850, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106 USA: TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC.
Massimino, P. M., & Turner, K. (2017). Business Etiquette and Career Advancement: Do Manners Still Matter?. Proceedings of the Northeast Business & Economics Association .
Richardson, C., Yaapar, M. S., & Amir, S. (2016). Budi and Malay workplace ethics. Journal of Asia Business Studies .
Ryan, L., & Earles, T. (2019). The Writing Center as a Workplace: Teaching, Learning, and Practicing Professionalism. WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship , 43 (9-10), 2-10.
