We work to earn a living and owe it to our employer to fulfil our duties during the stipulated office hours and having a clear conscience not to do the things that are unprofessional.

Basically, the things that we should never do at work are similar to those that we should not do during classes in our schooling years.

Following are some examples:

1.We should avoid turning up late for work without a valid reason.

2.Our working time is not ours but that of our company as we are paid to work for the stipulated period. It is bad attitude when we do not go to the office whenever we do not feel like it without submitting any leave or medical leave form. It is worse when our boss or supervisor have to follow-up and remind us several times before we decide to submit our forms.

3.If we have a conscience, we need to curb our habitual chit chatting on the phone daily about personal matters during office hours. We cannot be oblivious to the effect and interruption it has on our other colleagues.

4.When we are going off on holiday, do we leave all the work and plenty of backlogs undone, problems unsolved, expecting our colleagues to settle our work? This is unprofessional and irresponsible behaviour.

5.We need to avoid constantly walking around our office, yakking with colleagues when we feel like it, leaving our emails and work undone. We should not allow our work tray to pile up and our email inbox continue to increase with reminders from customers. Then, instead of getting them done, we call our friends on the phone to complain about our many emails in our inbox. When the work continues to pile, we just take a day or two off so that the piled up work can be cleared by our colleagues before we go back to the office. This is shirking responsibility and immature behaviour.

6.It is unwise when we do not listen nor pay attention when others guide or give us tips about the work process. As later on, when we encounter the same issue, we still do not know how to settle it and will need to ask the same person the same questions over and over again. This wastes everyone's time and is extremely disruptive for the persons involved. We not only slow down our work, we also become a burden to our colleagues. We may have become the weakest link in our office.

7.Unless we are new at our job (less than 6 months), we should not expect our colleagues to teach us and hand-hold us in our work, calling to others throughout our day in the office daily. This has the effect of smearing our image and damage the impression our co-workers and boss have on us.

8.We need to be mindful to be honest to the best of knowledge at all times, even in little things like office stationery, office property.

9.We should not make it a habit to use the office internet for our personal matters.

10.When we have personal problems, we should not spend most of our time discussing it during
office hours. We need to know that we are not the only ones with problems and we need to learn to think of ways to solve our problems instead of talking endlessly and harping on it. Dwelling on a problem by talking about it too much does not help us to solve it. It makes us feel worse and is self-defeating.

11.We also need to avoid gossiping and backstabbing our co-workers at our work place. When we are unhappy about someone's doings and we are well aware that the person does not listen and will take offense, it is best that we leave the person alone. In order to express our displeasure, we can talk it out with our close friend during the evenings or weekends.

Above habits are especially disruptive and cause displeasure, they will spoil our professional reputation.

Learn more about this author, Tammy Lim.
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