Bad work habits and how to break them

The Punch
December 2, 2009

When you´re considering goals for yourself, don´t forget to examine your work life. What changes could you make to become a more productive and pleasant colleague?

Experts offer this list of common bad habits at work — and how to break them:

• Planning poorly. Do you spend your first hour at work wondering what you should work on today? “So many people, when they leave their office at four to six pm, really have no clue what they are going to do first thing the following morning,” The President of the Next Step Group, Glenn Davis, said. It´s more efficient to plan your next day before you leave work.


• Spending the day in “email reaction mode.” Answering every email message as it comes in may make you seem responsive, but it is not productive. “You feel like you´re being a hero because you´re dealing with all your email,” says Valerie Frederickson, CEO & Founder of Valerie Frederickson & Co., an HR executive search and consulting firm. “But it has nothing to do with achieving your goals.”


• Abusing work–from–home privileges. Yes, you save time when you work from home by not commuting. But too many people are easily sidetracked by the laundry, their kids, a quick errand. “People like to say, ‘I get so much more done’ working from home,” Davis said.


• Putting personal life before work. Everyone has emergencies from time to time. But it is annoying to have to repeatedly fill in for the colleague who is late every morning because he is checking on his home remodeling project, or who misses an entire afternoon because she scheduled a routine dentist appointment for 1:30 p.m.


• Being late for meetings. People who show up five or 10 minutes late for a meeting cause a “domino effect,” Davis said. Meetings later that day may be thrown off schedule because the earlier ones ran late. And people who show up on time feel their time is being wasted.


• Not taking care of health and hygiene. “The problem is twofold,” said the principal of The Griffen Group, Leslie Griffen. “A sloppy appearance will cause a poor first impression.”


• Using inappropriate humour. Your coworkers may not appreciate your sense of humour.


• Not caring about your work. People like coworkers who are enthusiastic about what they do. Show that you take pride in your job by presenting yourself well, communicating clearly and doing your best work.