In the office, there are often unspoken rules on how to behave. This includes not only the appropriate dress code in many companies.
What doesn't bother one employee in the office at all could upset the other colleague. This includes, for example, when someone eats at the table in front of the computer and the food smells strongly of spices. Or that someone in the office constantly opens the window without asking the table neighbors, who may be sitting closer to the open window and freeze more easily. There is certainly no direct regulation in many areas. However, mutual consideration is appropriate.
+Taking off your shoes under your desk is certainly not welcome in every office.
© Westend61/Imago
Job etiquette: Is it actually allowed to take off your shoes in the office?
Not a question of labor law, but rather a question of good manners: Are you actually allowed to take off your shoes in the office where you sit at the computer and work? In the home office, some employees may have become accustomed to putting their feet barefoot (or in socks) under their desks, but at work, other employees may dislike it. And who wants to be looked at askance by the boss because of an actual trifle?
Don't miss a thing: You can find everything you need to know about careers in the regular career newsletter from our partner Merkur.de.
Termination of the employment contract: the most important facts that everyone should know
Termination of the employment contract: the most important facts that everyone should know
Etiquette expert gives tips
In smaller, well-rehearsed teams, colleagues may already know each other so well when it comes to such matters that they no longer have to argue about it. And in a more casual ambience with long-established colleagues in the office, it may even be possible here or there and, depending on the rules and dress code in summer, to take off the uncomfortable shoe under the desk from your foot. "Walking barefoot in the office, however, requires a great deal of self-confidence and a lot of tolerance on the part of colleagues," said Linda Kaiser, deputy chairwoman of the German Etiquette Society, in an earlier online article by Wirtschaftswoche (wiwo.de).
Even if there is no corresponding regulation under labor law, the etiquette expert emphasized many years ago, according to the article: "However, every company has dress codes that are binding for employees – similar to deep necklines, tie requirements or long-sleeved shirts, for example." There are also unspoken rules in companies, in addition to possible other regulations. New employees in particular should inform themselves well beforehand and, if necessary, ask their colleagues so as not to risk trouble.
Category list image: © Westend61/Imago