Confused about Workplace Etiquette Rules? You’re Not Alone

Workplace etiquette rules are constantly evolving and it’s harder than ever to keep up with what is and isn’t allowed within a workplace. Office behavior norms keep evolving as popular trends come and go, and these norms dictate what is preferred within a particular organization. Unfortunately, there are no daily news reports to give us a clear sense of employee behavior guidelines that apply to all organizations. Magazines and news reports give us a sense of the general workplace etiquette rules, but because organizations don’t always follow what’s “trending,” it becomes harder to learn proper workplace conduct that can be used across jobs.

This also extends to employee communication norms and how workers are expected to communicate with each other. While some organizations encourage casual communication, others are not as open to it, leaving employees confused about how to proceed.

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The Shifting Nature of Workplace Etiquette Rules Leaves Employees Unsure

A decade ago, wearing casual clothes in the vicinity of the workplace was unheard of—a company’s reputation almost hinged on the quality of the professional attire of the workforce. Fast forward to 2024, and many organizations have relaxed the rules around what is acceptable to wear to work. Although the TikTok trends get corporate wear extremely wrong, it does have to be said that self-expression through fashion has become more normalized at work. The problem is these changes haven’t occurred uniformly. While some businesses take on this relaxed approach to office behavior norms, others still hold formality in high regard.

The lack of clarity on employee behavior guidelines makes workers nervous about how to act at work, causing worry about what behaviors might be seen as inappropriate. Many employees stay in their shells and avoid expressing themselves for fear of violating some unsaid office behavior norm or regulation. There are many organizations that take on a more casual approach to work and allow workers to think and act in ways that are more natural to them, but employees continue to find workplace policies restricting.

Gen Z Workers Do Not Enjoy Restrictive Employee Communication Norms

The disbalance of office behavior norms extends to the rules around communication as well. A recent Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll survey found that 41 percent of U.S. job seekers did not feel comfortable being themselves in the workplace. For 79 percent of them, this was because they were discouraged from discussing specific topics at work. The study went on to show that, as expected, salary and wages, politics, and religion were the top three topics that workers felt they were expected to avoid on the job. Of these, Gen Zers believed that, from their experience, discussing salary and wages was treated as the most taboo topic of all.

Workplace etiquette rules dictating appropriate topics of conversation are unsurprising—we’ve always known that maintaining a boundary between our personal and private lives is better for the health of the workplace. However, it seems that the younger generations are more comfortable sharing their opinions and personal experiences. Gen Z and Millennials reported far more comfort talking about their salary (70 percent and 58 percent) and their religion (62 and 52 percent respectively) than their Gen X and Boomer counterparts. 

Of the respondents overall, 80 percent were okay with discussing the topic of family, and the numbers were similarly high for mental (53 percent) and physical (69 percent) health. Employee well-being is one of the most sought-after benefits among workers, so it is not surprising to see their willingness to discuss these topics at work. Despite office behavior norms requiring employees to keep these sorts of conversations out of the workplace, it appears that employees prefer having the freedom to bring the full spectrum of their perspective to the workplace.

Should Employee Behavior Guidelines Be More Open-Minded about What Is Appropriate for the Workplace?

The results of the Harris Poll study make it clear that workers find these employee communication norms to be restrictive, preventing them from being their authentic selves at work. While 76 percent of hiring managers stated that they prioritize encouraging employees to be authentic, the study showed that only 39 percent felt their company prioritized authenticity in the same way. An individual’s background and personal experiences are a major factor in building their perspective, and the inability to express that perspective can hinder their ability to feel welcome at the organization. 

From the employer’s perspective, office behavior norms are largely structured based on what is deemed as “too sensitive,” which is why it is difficult to break out of the mold and put these topics up for discussion in the workplace. Employees value these topics because they are important to them, so allowing employees to discuss such sensitive issues can lead to many workers locking horns and hurting each other. This is obviously detrimental to the organization’s environment and culture. Suppose employers allow their workers to talk about salary or religion. They might soon have to prepare for more conflict to arise, which is why most workplace etiquette rules forbid discussing certain matters at work.

Employers Will Always Have to Enforce Some Employee Behavior Guidelines

Employers who want to be more accommodating to their employees may have to look into ways in which they can make their workplace a more open-minded space for employees where conversations are encouraged. To relax employee communication norms, they need to make it explicitly known that they welcome open discussion, but this cannot happen without some rules. For a workplace to function, structure is necessary, but they don’t have to be as formal or rigid as they have been in the past. 

An employer is responsible for maintaining the peace and upholding the value of mutual respect at work, and they need to set regulations to ensure that employees are not targeting each other using the excuse of freedom. This is one of the reasons why workplace etiquette rules will always come with some restrictions and guidelines to indicate what is and isn’t appropriate. 

Making the rules and regulations of the workspace known to employees is something that all employers need to take care of right from the first day of work, so the employee is aware of what is allowed and what is not. Leaders at the organization also have to model the behavior they want prevalent within their organization to create a template for employees to follow. This makes the proper workplace conduct clear to everyone within the company, eliminating any concerns about what is appropriate at the organization. 

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