Mind your p’s and q’s: Workplace etiquette classes are coming

Want to hear something disturbing?

This month marks four years since covid was declared a pandemic and our lives changed forever.

One of the biggest changes was to the way we work: Before the pandemic, in 2019, ~6% of Americans worked from home. In two years, ~18% — ~19m additional workers — were working from home.

With many employees thriving remotely, return-to-office mandates caused an uproar. Many workplaces have since settled on hybrid structures, bringing employees back to the office some of the time.

But as employees swapped their sweatpants for slacks and their couches for cubicles, companies realized some bad habits had followed them back.

Now, to get employees office-ready, a workplace etiquette industry has emerged, per CNN:

• A Resume Builder survey of 1.5k+ business leaders shows that 45% of companies already offer etiquette training to employees, and an additional 18% plan to implement it in 2024.
• New York-based firm Beaumont Etiquette has seen a 100% increase in training requests from employers over the last two years.

As for what skills employers want taught in these training sessions, 78% of survey respondents said “making polite conversation,” 75% selected “dressing professionally,” and 69% said “writing professional emails.”

Missing manners

While we know (all too well) that employees of any age can act out in the workplace, younger professionals have had a uniquely challenging time.

Gen Zers, many of whom entered the workforce during the pandemic, have had to adjust to full-time jobs and corporate intricacies over Zoom and in half-empty offices.

To help, some employers have begun offering training solely for entry-level employees. The Big Four consulting firms — Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and EY — offer incoming junior hires training in soft skills.

Colleges and universities are also adding coursework to prepare undergrads for the workplace.

Workplace etiquette is certainly not a Gen Z-exclusive issue, though: Just 10% of respondents from Resume Builder’s survey said they’re only requiring training for Gen Z, while 60% said it will be required of all employees.

Our ask: add a section about which foods are — and are not — appropriate for microwaving in the office.