Cubicle Etiquette

Do you have annoying coworkers that don’t let you go through your day being as productive as you can?

If you constantly find yourself putting off little fires around the office, jumping from one task to another, loosing concentration and always behind schedule, it might be time to cut off cubicle interruptions.

From the coffee-mug-holder coworker that suddenly pops up through the partition to talk about what his children did during the weekend to the annoying mid forties woman that laughs loudly while gossiping on the speaker phone, all are interruptions. Here are a few cubicle etiquette guidelines to minimize interruptions and be more considered to your coworkers.

Keep it down
I remember having a project manager talking trash to a contractor in a loud tone. Why? She wanted to sound busy and on top of the project. Reality was, she was disorganized and never plan ahead. Many people put a lot of effort looking busy and even worst, sounding busy. Managers know better. A loud voice makes working conditions difficult for your cubicle neighbors. It makes listening to a concurrent telephone conversation difficult – I’m sorry, could you repeat that? I’m having some background noise. –

Speakers
Get rid of everything that has speakers – not everybody likes your music. Some people even find it difficult to concentrate if music that they even like is playing. Use earphones instead. The same applies to speaker phones. I still haven’t been able to figure out what is the purpose of the speakerphone. One might think this is convenient because it allows you to type and talk at the same time. Ask the person to send you an email instead, take notes, get to the point and hang up. There is really no reason for speakerphones.

Good Vibrations
When at work, I always set my cellular in silent mode. I put it next to my laptop or inside my pocket. I have taught my relatives to send me text messages if they want me to call them after I’m done with work. If it is an emergency they will text me and leave a message. Most of my friends know I won’t answer the phone and very often they leave a message that I hear a few minutes later to evaluate how quickly should I call back.

Turn Down the Volume
If you receive several phone calls per day, it is annoying for your neighbors to ne listening to a loud ring the hold day. Lower the volume of your telephone ring as much as possible as a consideration to your coworkers.

Let’s get together. Conference Rooms
I have always been opposed to meetings. Eighty percent of meetings are; unnecessary ways to make someone look important and, time waster. Meetings should NEVER be held in your cubicle. Reserve conference rooms in advance for meetings with potential clients, contractors or designers.

Try to keeping meetings to a minimum items and as short as possible. Send an email with meeting agendas, Q&A, and reports in advance to attendees. Keep meetings under thirty minutes and never, ever have a cubicle meeting.

Interruptions
Quit sugar. I believe sugar plays a big role regarding interruptions. Most people can seat still and will find any excuse to walk around and interrupt someone else. Do not just pop up into someone’s cubicle just because there is no door and you just need some attention. Always consider other’s time and space. Send an email if your request can wait.

Batch requests of information – Throughout the day you will need different people’s feedback. Start creating emails at the beginning for each person. Don’t send the email until a few hours before the day is over. Keep adding, rewriting and or eliminating items you might not need to know. If it is urgent call the person and explains why it is urgent to have him/her sign a document, then stop by for the signature.

Hey You! Interruption
Weaving at someone and/or using sign language it is just pure laziness. Wait for the person to be done with the task at hand. Stop being reactive and start been proactive.

Confidential matters
Another reason to schedule meeting rooms is to keep important information confidential. The thin walls of your cubicle don’t prevent people from listening to your conversations.

Smells
Perhaps, one rule of cubicle etiquette many don’t consider is odors and smells interruptions. It is very annoying to work around people that wear to much cologne, aftershave or perfume. This strong smells can get allergic coworkers to sniff creating noise.

Don’t eat at your cubicle. Strong smelling food can off putting other coworkers.

Organization
Self promotion is a skill many cubicle people don’t consider in a working environment. Keep your cubicle clean, tidy and uncluttered. This says a lot about how much in charge you are of your work. Start by eliminating unnecessary objects and pictures. Show to other how professional you are by been organized and focused. Your desk organization is a reflection how your mind effectiveness.

How to Stop Junk Mail

Is it annoying for you to sort through all the junk mail every day? Here is what I used to do with junk mail until I discovered how to get rid of it.

1. Open overstuffed mail box and cut finger while pulling all the junk mail mixed with important mail.
2. Walk into the house while sorting through the “mixed mail”
3. Find the shredder; feed the junk mail one by one into the shredder.
4. Fight the shredder - aargg! - Pull the jammed paper and try again.
5. Dump shredded junk mail into the recycle bin in the kitchen
6. Once recycle bin is full, tale it to the bigger recycle bin outside.
7. Pay every month for the trash company to recycle shredded junk mail.

Seems like a lot of work and time spent on something I don’t want to receive and something I want to get rid of.

Solution: Cut it off at the source - “Hasta la vista, junk mail”.

Here is what you have to do to free yourself from junk mail. How to stop junk mail is easier than you might think, just go to this link;

https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/proto1.php

This website allows you to remove your physical address (opt-out) from junk mail lists and other commercial lists, for example; those annoying catalogs. I’m against catalogs because most of the time those are “want items” you’ll just end up buying instead of “need items”.

There are two ways to register;

1. Fill out a form online - fastest way -
2. Complete a mail-in registration form. You will need to pay $1 for processing fees.

Nowadays I only check my mailbox once every two weeks. There are a few other tricks I implemented to be able to do that. Stay tuned …

Questions and Comments:

How many times a week do you check your mail box? What percentage of Junk Mail do you get?

Do you have stress? 300 Breakthrough Stress Relief Tips

How can I save money on my telephone bill?

GrandCentral is a new web app. (recently adquired by Google) that allows you to redirect all of your phone numbers (wor, cell, home, etc.) into one number. There are many features that come with your GrandCentral account (GC Features).

How can I save money with this new service? My favorite feature is the Click2Call. I use Click2Call to reduce my cell phone bill significantly and to bypass that annoying Outgoing code I have to enter everytime I need to call someone out of the state.

Let's go through the steps about how to accomplish have a zero long distance telephone bill for your company or home.

1. First, open an account with http://www.grandcentral.com/ by reserving a number. This is usually easier for those who already have a google email account. The reservation process will tell you how to get a google email account if you don't have one. The confirmation page let's you know there may be some areas where they won't have coverage.


2. Wait for their approved email and go through their well documented website to become familiar with the service.


3. Pick a telephone number in your area code and enter your office and mobile telephone numbers in your account.


4. Add a few family members and/or customer phone numbers from out-of-state into the address book.


5. Now, here is the trick; use click2call feature to have grandcentral call your office telephone (incoming call) and then make the connection to your out-of-state contact.


6. Voila !! You will be talking to your customer, friend or family member, no extra charge.

How is this possible? Since you are simply answering a telephone call from your service, http://www.grandcentral.com/, it is not necessary for you to enter any access code to make an outgoing telephone call.

Please share this How can I save money trick with as many of your friends and remember to refer them to these instructions.

Subscribe to this blog for more interesting office and productivity tricks (top right form of this webpage).

Hiring Practice

The hiring process is not an easy one, especially during current times of high competition for talent during a great shortage of skilled labor in the US. Managers want to make sure they find and keep the best people. Therefore, it is a collaborative job among human resources representatives, managers and work unit employees to know what is considered the best hiring practice.

Involving your workforce staff in the hiring process helps to get a good employee and one that fits the staff therefore building a stronger team. Another good practice in the hiring process is to have the manager or supervisor interview the candidate for the tasks and duties to be performed under his/her supervision. Other practices to consider during at the beginning of hiring process are;

• Make sure a resume submission process is in place
• Create flexible job requirements for the description of your posting
• Craft behavioral questions for the interview process. Open ended questions are best and considered great a hiring practice since they determine candidate’s natural tendencies when faced to resolve unexpected problems.

One of the most important and frequently overlooked hiring practice is to consider the work environment of your company. Ask yourself and your personnel what makes it great to work at your company. The best candidates will be more willing to apply to companies with great culture, benefits, promotion opportunities and work environment.

Learn more:
7 Steps For Hiring The Right Person First Time
Pre Employment Interviewing Skills And Hiring Practices Training