Etiquette Training?

[MudFire_Dex]

I was reading the HR Brew newsletter this morning - here's a quote: 

It seems that every decade or so, office etiquette rules are rewritten.

In May 1991, the New York Times wrote about how “the atmosphere in the workplace has changed from one of formality to one of laissez-faire,” due in part to computer culture and a move by corporations to institute more egalitarian structures. Over 10 years later, Judith Martin, the columnist known as Miss Manners, lamented the melding of personal and professional boundaries in an interview with Harvard Business Review.

Now, HR departments are again having to help employees navigate new standards for office etiquette in a hybrid world, where expectations surrounding digital communication, conversation, and dress are not always clear. Increasingly, employers are investing in training to help.

The rise of etiquette training. Nearly one-half (45%) of companies currently offer office etiquette training, while another 18% plan to implement it by 2024, according to a recent ResumeBuilder report based on a July survey of more than 1,500 business leaders.

Of particular concern to employers are Gen Z workers, many of whom started their careers during the Covid-19 pandemic, when workers were likely to be working from their bedrooms rather than an office.


Is anyone here doing this? or how do y'all talk to your staff about things like eye contact norms? pleasantries? politeness? we are kind of hitting a maze as some of our Gen Z employees who are coming up in a different framework of acceptance for neuro-divergencies and autism awareness and things like eye contact are different viewed through a lens of "norms" which can represent an ableist viewpoint. We try to balance both - centering the individual and the issue they are facing but also managing the customer's expectations or those of other staff. We've had a few meetings this year of some staff accusing others of not being friendly because of eye contact specifically. What do y'all think about etiquette training in the post-pandemic return to work with a lot of new hires?

[PartyManiaMD]

Honestly as an independent store I just train my employees to be people and treat people like they're people and not customers. 

I know it seems common sense but too many companies try to turn their employees into robots with these so called etiquette trainings and believe me I can drink the corporate koolaid having worked for several billion dollar corporations but I've always believed in servant leadership and just treating each other and customers the way I want to be treated.

It's really not that hard and the fact that they need etiquette classes to "train" employees shows a disconnect between the executives and the employees they serve. It reads as desperate executives in a boardroom that weren't happy when they visited their line level employees, I've seen the dog and pony show of executives visiting a property and acting shocked when the line level employees pointed out operational deficiencies. They go back and the next week we have some BS training video that everyone has to sit through and watch.

Is some of the training useful? Sure, possibly. But at the end of the day watching a video or sitting in a class loses a lot of what makes training successful, one on one and realizing people ARE different and you can't train them to be robotic despite what the corporations want to believe. 

[MudFire_Dex]

I wasn't really speaking to a corporate solution of videos or training - we are small and would never do something like that. What I'm specifically interested in is the balance between respecting a difference in eye-contact norms versus managing a customer who wants more. We haven't really run into this a lot in our business because I think being classed as creatives/artists - our instructors and staff tend to receive more leeway on this issue. I was reading a review from a local coffee shop and it wasn't enough that the customer recieved a correct order - and timely service - she specifically wanted a smile and eye contact which some people legitimately struggle with. I'm always trying to balance the two with our staff - not performing service for service sake but having a genuine interaction and knowledge share with our customers. Curious as to what ettiquette training would consist of and wondering if anyone has experience with completing something like this?

[Candlestore]

Before owning by own business I worked in a factory.  I had people I liked and got along with and I had other employees I tolerated.  There are people in this world that thinks everyone must like them and there are others that think of ways to use rules to get people terminated from their jobs.  There were both very smart people that would get the company Handbook and read it and figure out the loop holes to best suit them.  Some were very good at it and found out that they got X days off a year..... but if they called off once a month they got an extra 12 days off a year with out being fired.  They just had to make sure the 4th call off was on at least the 91st day from their 1st call off.  Me on the other hand, I read the rules and requirements for how to get paid double time.  I was able to figure out a way to get 2 days of double time in 1 week.  My point is no matter how many meetings you have or how many rules you have, people have free will and may still act a certain way and still follow the rules.  How do you as a manager (owner) have employee A come in and say Employee B looked at me funny.  You call in employee B, who replies I did not.  Now its A's word vs B's word.  So then you get Employee B to stop looking at all employees and then next thing employee B gets called in because Employee C says B is not making Eye contact.   Employee B who is a good worker now has been called in for Looking and Not looking at other employees.   Now employee B does not know what to do and Quits.  Why because you called them in to your office to discuss looking at employee A, and then Not looking at Employee C.  So what is employee B suppose to do?  

Staff has to be friendly towards customers, not all staff gets along with each other, but have to tolerate each other for the Customers benefit.  You can not force employees to get along not everyone thinks the same way which is why we are all different.