How to Correct Bad Manners at Work

Too often we end up spending more time with our coworkers than we do with our friends and family. So when bad manners run rampant through the office, it can be more frustrating. Most workplaces employ a chain of command making it difficult to correct bad manners in those not directly under your authority. Playing Miss Manners at work requires finesse.

Instructions

1. Initiate and arrange staff meetings that teach proper business etiquette. Design the meetings under the guise of good business practices to be used around clients.

2. Set an example. Practice your best manners at all times, particularly around those at work whom you wish to convert.

3. Share emails with the office about best practices. Become the Miss Manners of your department and soon people will come to you for advice instead of waiting for your sweeping proclamations.

4. Invite a coworker to lunch and explain your feelings about a certain faux pas that bothers you. Ask the offending person if he or she would mind changing just a little to make your workplace more bearable.

5. Tell your manager about your issues with someone's bad manners. Ask for help in changing the environment. Perhaps the manager can speak directly to a person about a particularly embarrassing etiquette foible.

6. Develop a manual for proper dress and behavior at work. Ask someone in human resources or in a supervisory position to champion your cause with the executive board. Request that the manual become part of the workplace's policies.