20 Habits That Are Guaranteed to Make You Unpopular at Work

You never want the reputation of someone who’s always tardy; especially in a work-environment, where your punctuality says a great deal about how seriously you take your work, and how much (or little) respect you have for the time of people you work with.

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This is work – not a centre for matchmaking – and it can be tricky business blending both your personal and work life into a single cubicle. Office romances almost never stay secret for long, not to mention the ones that end badly. Forgo the forbidden romance and keep the dating drama for off-work hours.

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From an ultra-cluttered desk to a messy break room, your colleagues won’t need to do more than follow the crumbs to figure out who the office raccoon is – so be mindful of your shared environment and clean up after yourself.

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There are some crucial basics when it comes to inter-office emails; and you should take the time to familiarize yourself with them. Properly addressing colleagues, always spell-checking and ensuring you know just how much damage those “cc” and “bcc” buttons can do is vital to ensuring you won’t be offending – or over-sharing – once you hit “send.” And remember, anything you type and send can be printed, misunderstood and shared once it’s out there; so keep it professional and polite at all times.

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Unless you’re truly too sick to come into work, don’t skip out with a sick day and expect not to rattle a few chains. After a few repeat performances, your co-workers will get wise to what you’re doing and resent the added workload on their plate, all in the name of giving you a long-weekend. Don’t be the employee that cried wolf, or you’ll find yourself with no sympathy or support on those days where you might really need it.

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In nearly all work environments, teamwork plays a crucial role to success. The company is relying on you to not just thrive independently, but to also demonstrate abilities in working as part of a team. Office meetings are often a chance to connect with the other people on board and collectively examine any current projects that might benefit from a group perspective. Not doing the legwork beforehand in order to come prepared to contribute means one less active brain in the room – and everyone gets shortchanged when that happens.

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A negative mindset is not only contagious, but also exhausting to those around you, who will feed off your energy and either resent it or breed it into the atmosphere. A workspace is only as positive as the people within it, and it takes every member on the team to keep the energy upbeat and positive. Don’t fuel fires with an unnecessary bad attitude.

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Communicating with your colleagues is about more than properly voicing your own opinions and ideas; it’s about knowing how to respectfully listen and absorb the thoughts of others. Great listening skills demonstrate a willingness to work with others and allow those around you to feel respected and acknowledged by having your full attention.

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Good hygiene for a professional setting starts with the bare basics. Find a balance between smelling clean and fresh, without overdosing on fragrances or powerful body washes, which might overwhelm any sensitive noses in your office. Don’t ever forgo the proper daily scrubbing and put those around you in an awkward – and stinky – position.

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Cursing, making inappropriate jokes and comments or challenging the person in the next cubicle to a belching contest are all totally unacceptable in a work environment. Reserve the shenanigans for personal time, and preferably with people you don’t also work with. You may be a big kid at heart, but on the clock you will be expected to present yourself as a functioning adult who understands the difference between harmless banter and “bathroom talk.” If you find you don’t know the difference, it may be time to seek out a refresher on workplace-sensitivity.

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One surefire way to present yourself as immature is to engage in office gossip. Whether you’re the one starting the rumour, or simply participating in the banter, it makes no difference. Gossip in the workplace is unnecessary and harmful to both the collective rapport and the perception others may have of you. Being mindful of your comments at all times, and ensuring you avoid the catty chatter will keep you on everyone’s nice list.

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Consistently asking your co-workers to cover for you over missed deadlines and ducking out early is an unfair abuse of the relationship. In asking others to partake in your irresponsibility, you put them in a position where they must either risk upsetting you or put their own professional reputation at risk. Own your mistakes and cover your own behind – it isn’t anyone else’s job to keep you out of hot water.

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If you’ve come into work with mascara running down your cheeks and a box of tissues in hand hoping your colleagues will start a group therapy session in your honour – think again. This is not the place for that. Certainly, others will always be sympathetic to your situations, but everyone’s got something going on, and unfortunately, the office just isn’t the place to get it off your chest. As hard as it can sometimes be to shut off the personal emotions once you walk into the office, you simply can’t bring it to work with you.

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OK, so this one sounds a little ridiculous, but there really is a fine line between doing your best to stand out as a top employee, and brown-nosing the boss. Instead of making every effort to let your boss know you share their every opinion and find their every joke to be earth-shatteringly funny, let your work and personal performance speak for itself. Not only will your coworkers appreciate your less-obnoxious efforts, but the higher-ups will be grateful to be spared the unnecessary gestures.

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Professional boundaries in the workplace exist to keep everyone, including yourself, feeling safe and respected in their environment. This goes beyond just physically respecting your colleagues’ personal space to being mindful of how and what you say to those around you. Even an inquiry that might be work related, such as “how much did you make this year?” could prove to cross the line and make those around you uncomfortable. A good rule of thumb is this: if you had to think twice before saying it, just don’t go there until you’re absolutely sure it’s workplace appropriate.

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Look, everyone has different tastes when it comes to food – we get it! But when it comes to bringing a bagged lunch or takeout to your 9-5, keep it simple and minimal on the smell-scale. The reality is, when you eat in the break room, you’re sharing that small space, not to mention fridge, with everyone around you, and not everyone is going to appreciate that stinky cheese that you’re cutting up over your baguette. This isn’t to say your taste buds should suffer – if you’re dead set on bringing in the exotic goods for lunch, why not take it outside to a patio?

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It’s a great thing to do it for yourself, but there’s something to be said for finding success as part of a team. Most work environments will expect you to make an equal effort at both, and you might even find you relish in those group projects. Learning how to navigate assignments and deadlines with more than just you in mind can be tricky at first, but these are the interactions which really help to build those inter-office bonds and create the kind of trust between colleagues that can only benefit you down the road.

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At some point, every single member of your office will likely interact with you on some level, and with this in mind, it’s best not to burn any bridges with immature cliques. While it’s natural that, over time, you may form closer work relationships with some colleagues over others, this doesn’t mean you have to ice out those whom you just quite haven’t clicked with yet. First and foremost, this is a workplace, not a chance to relive high school. Be kind to all and inclusive of everyone when possible, icing others out will only make you out to be a “mean girl” – and who ever liked that girl to begin with?

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This may not be your only gig, and it may be that you have some small business or side project in the works that you’re super excited about, and eager to bring others on board to. But a word of caution: don’t do it during office hours! Trying to promote work opportunities or solicit others to whatever else you’ve got going on during office hours will not only make you look a little detached from your current role, but also potentially leave your colleagues feeling awkward about being pressured to go for whatever it is you’re pitching. If there’s something you’d like to bring their attention to and you find the appropriate opening to do so, go for it – but don’t keep bringing it up to where others feel they’re being backed into a corner.