The rules of business etiquette have been around, seemingly, forever. Yet, in these days of remote everything, video calls, email attachments and archived data, the landscape has shifted dramatically. In order to deal with the change, here are some new tips on business etiquette.
Turn off the gadgets during meetings
Yes, your phone, laptop or tablet might be essential to the work you do on a day to day basis. Yes, you might be expecting an important phone call. Yes, you might feel a little lost when you are not connected to your email for five minutes. But that does not change the fact that, if you have a bright screen open on your desk, you are not fully concentrated on the task at hand.
At the beginning of every meeting simply turn all non-essential gadgets off or on silence and get them out of sight. It will help everybody focus, ensure nobody feels slighted and bolster the speed with which you get the work done.
It's not OK to be late for a virtual meeting
As the old saying goes, "If you're early for a meeting you're on time. If you're on time you're late. If you're late you're fired." For some reason, people seem to think this wisdom need not apply to video calls. Not so.
Just because you are not sitting in a room with somebody, does not mean you can arrive late to the sit down. We know you always blame it on ‘technical issues' but, we guarantee, they don't believe you and leave the meeting with a bad taste in their mouths.
Business emails, instant messages and texts are never, truly private
If the last few years have proven anything, it is that anything sent via email or text is not truly private. It is archived on somebody else's device and can then be passed on to any other number of people. Plus, if it's on a company email system, it can easily be read by the IT department. Plus there's the nightmare of sending an email to the wrong address.
With all this in mind, it is best to follow this code: if you wouldn't say it in front of the entire organisation, don't say it in an email.