Does Workplace Etiquette Exist Where You Work?

Everyone is aware of the bad economy causing the loss of numerous jobs and healthcare worldwide. "Workplace etiquette" is slowly becoming extinct for those of us who are blessed to still have a job. What happened to the set of rules employees are expected to follow where their behavior conveys respect towards others and the work of the workplace? The workplace has changed drastically over the years.

Years ago it was an environment where employers and employees treated each other like human beings. Colleagues were sympathetic, empathetic, respectful and caring towards each other. Today there is a large number of stressed, over worked employees, without monetary incentives working in unsafe conditions. Discrimination, favoritism, nepotism, low morale and sexual harassment are not hard to find in some workplaces. I cannot find the word to describe what a lot of employees are dealing with on a daily basis and then again after becoming unemployed.

Many employees do not just have to deal with the incompetence and unprofessionalism of employers; employees also have to deal with their colleagues. The colleagues who find any excuse not to come to work, some who do not want to work and others who are unsure of the job they were actually hired to do. Worst of all are the colleagues who have been with the organization for a long period of time who rather not share their knowledge with other colleagues for fear of being replaced or passed over for a promotion. There is also a rise in criminal and fraudulent activities in the workplace, competition among colleagues, workplace violence and intrusion of privacy by employers.

Performance reports are issued to employees, usually annually, which are expected to be signed regardless of any false statements. Most of the time an employee will sign it for fear of losing their job. Years ago when an employee received a good performance rating a monetary incentive was given; those days are long gone! Once an employee is unemployed an employer might try to prevent the employee from being hired by another organization, as well as trying to prevent an employee's right to unemployment. Some employers literally try to damage an employee's livelihood; at least that's how I feel. Instead of employers and employees focusing on what the organization has hired them to do and working as a team while respecting each other, there is too much focus on all the turmoil that goes on in the workplace.

I have been working in this so called "professional" office environment for over thirty-years. I have personally witnessed unfair treatment and have been treated unfairly myself; especially in the past few years. Many thoughts run through an employee's mind after losing the only source of income, especially when it is unjustified, but I'm not the type of person to act on certain thoughts. I do not condone, but can empathize with disgruntled employees who go postal. I know there are many exceptions, but some employers feel they have the right to treat employees (human beings like them) in any way, get away with it, and the power just boosts their ego to a higher degree.

Unfortunately, some disgruntled employees act on certain thoughts, not thinking or caring about consequences; they are very angry, want revenge and go after it. Society can't imagine how these employees were treated, for how long or what caused them to reach that point. These types of working conditions have increased the self-employment and home-based business statistics dramatically. Unless there is another drastic change in the workplace, this is what our future generations will have to deal with as "normal" working conditions.

Some employers fail to acknowledge that power and abuse of power is temporary and can be harmful and dangerous. Employers are employees too; they are not God. An employer in a position to hire and fire must realize their so called power terminates upon the employee's termination from that organization. There will forever be a higher power!