Companies giving office etiquette classes to returnees
Workers struggle with appropriate conversation, dress
If you’re back in the office after doing remote work and you’re wearing shorts, flip-flops and calling your boss ‘dude’ it’s probably time for a little refresher in professional demeanor.
According to new survey that’s exactly what many companies are facing as they reintegrate workers and welcome newcomers after the pandemic job disruptions.
Resume Builder’s survey found that for companies that planned to have workers return to the office, the need to get new employees — who had never been in an office setting before— up to speed was critical. A full 45% of more than 1,500 business leaders surveyed said they have had to turn to courses on professionalism and office etiquette training for workers.
The training is mostly aimed at GenZ workers and new college grads, with more than 6 in 10 companies saying they plan to offer such training by 2024. Although there is broad praise for the technical skills of GenZ workers, their lack ‘soft’ skills, such as appropriate workplace conversation, interpersonal skills, and taking constructive criticism, made such courses necessary.
“Gen Z candidates never had the opportunity to learn these skills on-site as their experience in college or entrylevel positions was remote due to the pandemic,” said Resume Builder’s Stacie Haller. “As our survey shows, companies are now understanding that Gen Z employees lack these skills and need training from day one to accelerate their learning curve and quickly adapt to an in-office environment.”
When asked which skills will be covered in the etiquette classes, ‘making polite conversation’ was the most frequently selected at 78%, followed by ‘dressing professionally’ (75%) and ‘writing professional emails’ (69%).
Respondents also added other office issues that needed addressing in comments, such as: “What conversation isn’t acceptable” “Discussion of political standpoints and/or religion is discouraged”
“Taking others’ beliefs into consideration”
“Treating every person equally and fairly”
When respondents were asked why their company has decided to offer these classes, write-in responses included:
“The younger employees needed help with general office etiquette.”
“There’s a lot of miscommunication on what’s appropriate for the office, so implementing a plan and executing it will put everyone on the same page.”
“Some staff started wearing ‘very casual’ clothes to work that were just not professional in appearance.”
“There were increasing complaints of a hostile work environment and complaints from patrons about the behavior of certain employees.”
“We made the decision to implement these courses because we’re starting to interact with clients on a more regular basis.”
Additionally, 20% of business leaders say their company plans to offer etiquette training in the future. Of this group, 45% say the classes will begin later this year and 44% say they will begin by 2024.
This survey was commissioned by ResumeBuilder.com and conducted online by the survey platform Pollfish from June 30 to July 7, 2023. In total, 1,548 participants were surveyed, with 1,000 passing the screening and completing the full survey.