When you work an unconventional schedule that keeps you on the job site for a long period of time, you can become very close to your crew. In fact, to a point your crew becomes your second family. This can be very positive or very dysfunctional, and this is where good workplace etiquette comes in. Nobody understands a shift worker quite like another shift worker. Your crew that you work with understands the quirks of working an unconventional schedule, so what better place to forge new friendships than the crew you work with? We’re all unique individuals, it has been my experience that following a few basic rules can help minimize workplace friction.
Leave Your Religion (or lack thereof) at Home
The workplace is not a place to proselytize your religious beliefs or judge those who are religious. Religion and spirituality are all very personal things. Promoting your own religious beliefs or attacking the beliefs of others is terrible workplace etiquette and it can become an HR issue. Unless you are a missionary or a preacher, and people are voluntarily coming to you, you are not in the business of converting and saving people. It’s ok to have a private conversation about religion with a like minded coworker. Preaching to people who may not be interested in what you have to say is not conducive to good workplace etiquette and can have ramifications. People are entitled to come to work and not feel like they are being preached at.
Yes, This Really Happened
I work for a major engineering company; there were a few Hindu engineers that were from different castes. The engineer from the higher caste was always disrespectful to the engineer of the lower caste in a passive aggressive way. The engineer from the lower caste always did very good work and was rewarded with a huge promotion. That caused a problem because the engineer from the higher caste was now a subordinate to the man he looked down on. He refused to follow directions from his lead engineer because that man was from a lower caste. Needless to say, HR got involved and there was a reckoning.
Bringing your religious beliefs to work is not only bad workplace etiquette, it can be a huge HR headache. Don’t do it.
Acceptable Practices
The Civil Rights Act does allow for religious expression in the workplace. It has to be free from harassment and workplace operations can’t be compromised. Jewelry or accessories of a religious nature such as a hijab, a yarmulke, a turban, or a cross around your neck is perfectly acceptable as long as it doesn’t interfere with your job duties. I’m saying this because I know of a Sikh engineer that had to go into a full PPE zone. His hardhat didn’t fit over his turban and he refused to remove his turban. This became major safety issue and a life critical one at that. Management and HR had to get involved. Always consult the employee manual or ask HR if you have any questions.
Leave Your Politics At Home
Where do I even begin with this? Politics can be a very divisive topic and can cause a lot of friction and division at work. I have personally witnessed shouting matches over political differences. Let me tell you, it’s exhausting. Political parties, elections, elected officials, and whatever controversial issues of the day can get volatile so it’s best to just leave it all at home. Engaging in positive, thought-provoking discussions with coworkers can be a great opportunity to get to know each other, especially coworkers you may not have much in common with. The key is to be a mature adult about it and agree to disagree over differences of opinion.
Leave Your Social Justice Cause At Home
I have to be honest with you. Nobody cares about your social justice cause, so just leave it at home. Identity politics is also huge no go zone. Literally, just don’t go there. Whether you work a 9-5 job or an unconventional schedule, people go to work to earn a living, not be socially engineered.
Leave Your Personal Problems At Home
Most of us know or have known someone who is a swirling vortex of drama. Everywhere they go, they throw themselves a pity party and it just becomes exhausting. It is a genuine act of kindness to be a good listener and a friend, but people like this can be real energy vampires and they can be incredibly unpleasant to work with. Avoid these people like the plague, they thrive on attention and drama. Starve their insatiable need for attention by not giving them any. Also, don’t be this person, and if you are this person, do some self-reflections on why you have so much drama and angst in your life.
Bad Things Happen to Good People
Life events happen to all of us, they can be minor trials and tribulations, or they can be catastrophic. Death, divorce, illness, major tragedies and other traumas can be very taxing and can hinder our ability to do our job. Most workplaces have an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), to help us through difficult times. EAP’s are voluntary work-based programs that offer free and confidential assessments, short term counseling, referrals and follow-up services for employees that are having personal and/or work-related problems. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can give insight on what your problems are and how to solve them.
Protect Yourself
This is more than workplace etiquette. Making your personal problems everyone else’s business could result in a coworker using it against you. Workplace gossip can be vicious. The person you thought you could confide in can easily betray you by turning your problems against you and making you a liability. When you utilize your EAP, you are getting confidential and professional help. You can rest assure that your problems aren’t going to be water cooler gossip.
Don’t Sh*t Where You Eat
I’m very sorry for the crude heading but be very leery of workplace romances. When you co-mingle your personal life with your professional life, your personal life becomes everyone’s business at work. Workplace gossip can get brutal. Even worse, if you break up with that person, it can get ugly. Seeing your ex every time you go to work can make the breakup more painful, and any rancor between you can, and often will, spill over to the workplace and nobody wants a toxic work environment, especially people who had nothing to do with your former relationship.
The Ripple Effect
Failed workplace relationships are much more than just a failed relationship. Friends of your ex can turn against you. The feeling of not wanting to go to work because you don’t want to see your ex can affect your job performance, that can lead to a bad performance evaluation from your management and that can affect your career. If that’s not bad enough, some ex’s can get very vindictive and sabotage your career with a bogus harassment complaint to HR. I can’t emphasize enough, tread lightly when it comes to workplace romances.
It’s Much More Than Workplace Etiquette, It’s Your Career
Earlier I said nobody understands a shift worker quite like another shift worker. It’s easy and common for friendships and romances to start between people who work the same profession on the same schedule. Workplace couples are a common thing that spans professions and plenty of people have met the love of their life at work. The key here is to keep it professional. Keep work separate from your relationship and your relationship separate from work and you should have no issues. HR can’t micromanage your personal life outside of work ,but if said personal life is causing problems at work, it becomes HR’s business.
