The Indian work culture is far different from that of the Western world. By nature, we tend to be more casual when approaching a situation. In the corporate set-up though, this leads to amateurish mistakes that are best avoided. Let’s explore the five most common ones.
Being casual about attire
There is a reason we have a category called “office or formal wear”! Unless your employer has laid down specific rules wherein it is okay to dress casually at the workplace, avoid walking into work in your favourite pair of jeans.
Of course, this point is relative to the industry you work for. In advertising / media agencies it is an accepted norm to dress casually even while at the office. But you won’t ever find someone wearing a pair of jeans when working at a bank.
Turning colleagues into best friends
There are many instances of best friends working together, even couples working together and colleagues turning into friends. However, it pays to be safe here. At the end of the day, you may be better off not being best friends and divulging all your life’s secrets and problems to the people you work with.
It is a competitive world out there. Who knows when someone will use your own secrets against you in order to get ahead themselves!
Fighting out loud
Not all days are meant to be good days. You may have disagreements on multiple issues with some colleagues. But your office is not your house. And in fact, even when at home, you shouldn’t resort to shouting!
Avoid picking arguments at work. Instead, hone your leadership skills and manoeuvre the situation in a mature manner.
Not respecting time
There may be days when you just can’t help being late. But if you are always late, chances are that you are going to be in the bad books of your employer at some point. Agreed that you may be getting all the work done on time. But, timings are meant to be respected. Show up on time, leave on time as much as possible.
Being a know-it-all
This happens in mid to larger companies often enough these days. Young employees with MBA degrees feel that they are too good to do an intern’s or junior staff’s job. It could work the other way around too in some cases.
While at the workplace, there is always something new to learn. Trends are dynamic. There is always change. In order to stay abreast of information, you have to keep reading and no one can be a know-it-all in today’s age and time, no matter the degree you hold.