6 Tiny Habits Your Boss Can’t Stand

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Everyone wants their boss to like them, and everyone with any sense understands that their performance in the workplace will be a large part of what decides whether or not they get along with their manager. That said, there are some people that do their jobs well but feel like their supervisor simply cannot stand them. They might be overreacting to their manager having a bad day, but they also might be right. Their boss might not like them, and it might have everything to do with the employee’s habits. You yourself might be experiencing the same thing. If you are, or if you want to make sure you stay in your boss’ good grace, there are some things that you will need to avoid because they are all but guaranteed to drive your boss up the wall. You might be doing some of these things and not even realize it. After all, it is sometimes the little things that make or break a person’s job. If you want to avoid your boss’ wrath, you need to make sure you pay attention to the details. So, make sure you do not have these six tiny habits your boss cannot stand, or if you do, break those habits immediately.

Unprofessional Speech

You have probably heard the old adage that how you say something is almost as important as what you say. This is especially true when it comes to the professional world. There, how you speak can actually be more important than the words coming out of your mouth when it comes to making your boss happy.

You can speak however you want when you are with your friends or family members, but unprofessional speech in the workplace is almost guaranteed to rub your boss the wrong way. Swearing, overusing slang or making excessive use of vernacular is going to make you look incredibly unprofessional. Similarly, making every sentence sound like a question, commonly called “uptalk,” or using numerous speech fillers such as “um” or “like” when you speak is not going to make you seem sweet, friendly or likable. Instead, it is going to make you sound less intelligent and less capable than your coworkers and call into question your professionalism.

Unresponsive to Emails

Handling emails in the office can be tricky. Every bit of productivity advice you will find tells you that you need to check your emails as little as possible. They will tell you that your inbox is a time sucker that will keep you from getting your work done, and your emails serve as a source of constant distraction. There is a lot of truth to this, and you certainly will not be working at peak efficiency if you stop what you are doing every 15 minutes to check your emails. That said, you cannot ignore your inbox all day and not expect to have people frustrated by your lack of responses to their queries.

In order to keep your boss and coworkers happy, you need to find a happy medium when it comes to email responsiveness. Depending on how long you normally spend responding to emails, it might make the most sense to set three or four times during the day that are meant solely for handling emails. For other people, two or three minutes at the top of every hour is perfect for staying on top of their inbox. It will depend on your specific situation.

Millions of Excuses

People are experts at giving excuses for their behavior. You can probably give what you think of as a perfectly good reason for the vast majority of actions you undertake. Most people have also been raised on the idea that it is always better to explain your behavior especially if your actions left something to be desired. People are, after all, usually more understanding and willing to let things go once you give them the reasoning behind your actions. This combination, however, morphs into constantly coming up with excuses, and it drives bosses completely bonkers. If you are always running late, just admit that you have a tardiness problem rather than greeting your boss every morning with a litany of reasons for why you are sprinting into the office at 9:15 a.m. instead of being there promptly at 9:00 a.m. You are better off to simply apologize and let your boss know you are working on breaking the bad habit than to give them a new excuse every day. If you keep giving them excuses, then on the day when you really do have a good reason for being extra late, they will not believe you.

Constant Complaining

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Nobody likes a Debby Downer, and supervisors are no exception to that rule. If you were to ask every manager on the planet what the idea employee looks like, they would likely give you a similar picture. The employee would be hardworking, cooperative, helpful, a problem solver and would not be a complainer. If you constantly whine about having too much work, being too tired, hating Mondays, wishing it was Friday, loathing that the computer is running slow, getting stuck behind terrible drivers in the morning or any other inane thing, your manager is going to want to stick a piece of duct tape over your mouth simply to make the endless barrage of negativity stop. Your coworkers are likely to want to do the same. Not only is constant complaining unprofessional, it can drag everyone else down, too. So, your minor case of the Monday blues suddenly has the entire office hating life and, as a result, getting nothing done. That is not the sort of person any manager wants on their team.

Not Working at Work

It seems pretty self-explanatory that you are expected to be working when you are at work. That said, there are number of people for whom this bit of common sense is completely alien. They may arrive at the office promptly, stay late and work through lunch, but they are not getting a single thing done. They may look awfully productive, but they barely touch their work. Instead, they spend the day online shopping, surfing the web, checking sports scores, exploring recipes and checking out venues for their sister’s upcoming bachelorette party. None of these are what your boss wants you to be doing while you are at work. Your supervisor is also not as oblivious as you think they are, and you are not as clever about hiding your social media habit at work as you think. At some point in their life, your manager has likely used all the little tricks you use to try and hide that you are being unproductive. As such, they recognize all of them and are not fooled. So, stop trying to hide that you are actually answering personal emails. If it is something urgent, simply answer it. Then, get back to what you are supposed to be doing. Otherwise, it can wait until you get home.

Phone Misuse

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Smartphones are absolutely everywhere these days, but it seems like the more phones are capable of doing, the most desperately everyone that owns them needs a crash course in manners shoved down their throats. Unless you are taking a work call on your personal phone, there is no reason to have your phone out. You should not be answering personal phone calls, texting or scrolling through Facebook during work hours. All those things should wait until you get home. When you are at work, your phone should remain tucked out of sight and either turned off or on silent. “Out of sight” means in your pocket, briefcase or purse, not sitting at your elbow on the desk. In your down time at work, such as over your lunch hour or in the few minutes before a meeting starts, you should be talking and networking with your colleagues, not staring down at your phone. You certainly should not put your phone on the table at the beginning of a meeting, stare at it intently when it buzzes half way through the meeting and then announce in a tone that suggests you are making some grand concession, “I’m not going to answer that.” You should never have had your phone in the room in the first place, much less considered interrupting the meeting to answer it. Leave your phone alone. It has no place at work.