How to Avoid the Unemployment Line

It is very common for employees of a large company to work in a large open space filled with cubicles. When working in a cubicle at times the cubicle may give the impression of privacy, but this could not be further from the truth. Your co workers can hear you, and usually see you as well. Here are some helpful tips that can stop you from looking foolish in front of your co workers and maybe even save your job.

Disturbing your co-workers:
Being a disturbance to the rest of the office is one of the most commonly reported complaints about a worker. It is not good to be known as the noisy one in the office because what will happen is one day the boss will ask someone why the report or whatever they were working on was not done in time and to cove their butts they will blame you for distracting them from their work.

Talking Behind their Backs:
Getting caught talking about co workers behind their backs is the most common cause of hostile environment lawsuit. This is why many companies will immediately fire someone who is found to be talking about the other people in the company to cover themselves from being sued. My advice is to keep what you hear or see to yourself.

Personal Calls and E-Mails:
Most supervisors and managers understand that outside the office employees have a life, and they know you are going to send and receive emails from your friends and family, but it is important to keep it to a minimum. It is also important to remember to make sue that your friends do not use any inappropriate language in the emails. Many companies have software that will spot the language and report it to your manager. Phone calls should be kept to your break times. It is not fair to your employer or your co-workers if you take extra time off during the day to talk on the phone keep personal calls to your own time except for emergencies, and making plans for Friday night is not an emergency.

Sit at you desk:
It is not uncommon to walk around the office to have a chat with another co-worker, very often you may have to talk to someone about some work this is perfectly acceptable, and to share pleasantries is expected but to spend 10 minutes talking about non work related subjects is a bit much. The more time you spend away from your desk on non business related things the more your boss may start to think how necessary you are to the company.

Eating in the Office:
When I worked in the land of cubicles I had to work while I ate at my desk all the time to make sure everything was done by the deadline, and so did many of my coworkers. Nothing irritated me more then when someone would bring in some hot food that was very aromatic. If it smelled good it was a distraction and if it smelled bad it was even more of a distraction.

Au Natural:
Before you put on that aftershave in the morning you may want to take a moment to think if it is really appropriate. It is not uncommon for some people to be bothered by colognes and perfumes in the office. This can cause headaches in some people and if you are the cause if this your job can quickly be in jeopardy especially if it is the boss who you are disturbing.

Pimp my Cubicle:
Many people want their cubicles to reflect their personality, and they will put up pictures and jokes and little knick knacks. The problem with this is that it does not look professional when outsiders visit the office, to have a few pictures on your desk is one thing but to have a small aquarium or collectables on your desk may be a bit much for any office. Before sprucing up your cubicle make sure to run it by the supervisor. You would not want to get a letter from human resources for having inappropriate items on your desk.

Before you do anything in the office always ask yourself if it could in any way bother a fellow worker if the answer is yes then do not so it. No one wants to lose their job over something stupid.