New Business Etiquette for the New Millenium?
We’ve all read various and assorted workplace etiquette tips over the years.
We’ve also read that the office is a “new environment” with a younger generation of employees who do things differently
Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success, proposes that a new set of etiquette rules is necessary for the new millenium.
In her article, Ms. Trunk proposes several things that contradict long standing rules of etiquette such as “Call people on the weekend for work”, and, “Don’t ask for time off, just take it”.
Is she right? Should there be new behavior for new times, or, are some rules of politeness timeless?
I read that article a few days ago, and while I’m generally a fan of Penelope Trunk, I disagreed with several of her points here. Sometimes I get the impression that her advice is several steps ahead of where most workplaces actually are, so it’s not necessarily applicable to a lot of us in our current work lives. Till it is, I think asking for time off instead of “just taking it” would still be appreciated, especially if other people might need to cover for you while you’re gone, and that weekend-calling thing wouldn’t go over too well in a more conventional office – the headphones would come across as a bit rude too, I think. Some of her other points are good, though, such as that one about “being nice like your job depends on it.”