Large companies will often have large offices with many employees working in cubicles. The cubicles may give the worker a feeling of being alone, but it is important to remember that you share the space with your coworkers. Here are some important tips on how to act in world of cubicles.

Disturbing your co-workers:

Being a disturbance to the rest of the office is one of the most commonly reported complaints about a worker. It is not good to be known as the noisy one in the office because what will happen is one day the boss will ask someone why the report or whatever they were working on was not done in time and to cove their butts they will blame you for distracting them from their work.

Talking Behind their Backs:

Getting caught talking about co workers behind their backs is the most common cause of hostile environment lawsuit. This is why many companies will immediately fire someone who is found to be talking about the other people in the company to cover themselves from being sued. My advice is to keep what you hear or see to yourself.

Communicating with the Real World

Bosses know that their workers are going to make and receive personal phone calls and emails when they should be working, but that does not mean it is acceptable to spend all day having conversations over email or constantly having to go outside to take phone calls. Some bosses actually expect you to do some work while they are paying you. It is also important receive large attachments at work. Receiving thinks like video clips can take up much of the offices bandwidth for the time it take to receive them. This means that the other people who may need to use the network resources may be denied because of your download and I can tell you from experience that this angers bosses.

Sit at you desk:

It is not uncommon to walk around the office to have a chat with another co-worker, very often you may have to talk to someone about some work this is perfectly acceptable, and to share pleasantries is expected but to spend 10 minutes talking about non work related subjects is a bit much. The more time you spend away from your desk on non business related things the more your boss may start to think how necessary you are to the company.

Lunch:

Eating at your desk is fairly common in a busy office, but try not to bring or order food that has a strong smell or is wrapped in a wrapper that makes too much noise when you open it.. As much as you may enjoy the smell of your food others may not. Try to bring in food that does not have any odor that someone else can smell. And loud wrappers can get on peoples nerves and can cause resentments that can come back to haunt you in the future.

Cologne and Perfume:

Work is not a night club. Many of the people you share your office space with may be fine with the smell of your perfume or cologne, but some people do not like the smell and depending how strong the smell is, it can give some people headaches, so whenever possible please do not wear any strong scents to the office.

Cubicle Decorations:

Our cubicle is not your own personal space it is a place of business. There is no reason to fill your cubicle with little knick knacks to make it more like home. Here is a little secret your boss does not want you to feel at home he wants you to feel like you are at work. When you feel more relaxed most people are less productive, and when people visit the office it does not look professional.

Watching the way you act and being courteous to your fellow workers can make a difference between having a career with the possibility of raises and promotions or a dead end job.