Bad office habits to avoid

If you turn up to work one hour later than the prescribed time, rest assured someone is watching, writes TANIA NGIMA

Whether good or bad, habits initially creep up on us and then progressively become commonplace.

The worst thing about bad habits is that the tendency to make them stick is determined by the number of people engaging in the action until the point where it starts to be seen as acceptable.

Though most office environments operate with certain rules, some generally expected behaviour may not be laid down on paper and you will still be expected to toe the line and deviants may be noticed by the higher ups. The key is to notice and arrest these small and seemingly insignificant lapses.

Here are a few pointers:

Tardiness

This is showing disrespect to others. Even though it may be acceptable to turn up to work a quarter of an hour later than the prescribed time or to meetings a few minutes late, you may be surprised to find that someone is indeed keeping track of these lapses.

Try to be a few minutes early for meetings and to work to avoid earning yourself a poor reputation.

If there are deadlines to be met for reports, waiting until the last minute and constantly turning in reports late will not reflect well on your performance. Planning is key and when made a habit, being on time will come more naturally.

Constant distractions

Some disruptions at work are unavoidable; a crisis that needs immediate attention, a client who needs to speak to a specific person.

However, some distractions are self-inflicted. For instance, constantly trawling the Internet, chatting with friends, gaming, the list goes on.

Remember that if you’re using the organisation’s resources, chances are your usage can be tracked. And more importantly on a personal level, constant distraction take your attention away from the task at hand and make you less productive.

Break the habit gently but firmly and focus on checking your emails at most every two to three hours.

Relegate personal Internet activity to non-contractual working hours, and even then with discretion.

Complaining

Everyone has a bad day every once in a while. However, if you construe every small misstep as a bad day and spend the rest of the day grouching at anyone and everyone who will listen, not only will you be viewed by your colleagues as a negative person but it will have a diminishing effect on your energy. Negativity tends to feed on itself.

And if constant whingeing doesn’t wear you down, your boss might start to think you would rather be relieved of your position.

The same goes for gossip; if you’re perceived as being unable to keep anything confidential then inevitably this will affect your career progression. Keep passing on things you heard about the organisation or its employees to a minimum.