Remote Control
I don’t know about you, but I work from home 100% of the time right now due to the pandemic. It seems that many other people are exclusively working from home right now too. What I have notice more than not is that etiquette has been thrown out the window when it comes to interacting with co-workers and clients in a mostly remote-worker world.
People are quick to repeatedly Instant Message me, especially when I am in the middle of finalizing a project or talking to a client. In the office environment they would see me on the phone or that my door was closed and wouldn’t interrupt. It’s a little different though not being in the office!
The expectation of me getting back to people has increased three fold. Whereas before, in an office environment, people might know that I am in a meeting or visiting a customer and they don’t expect a quick response. This has been overtaken by repeated messages and phone calls wondering why I haven’t responded to their request yet.
Trying to train for a new job takes a little more time when it is remote! In an office/training environment, when I am learning something new and have a quick question, I can just run to the person in the cube or office next door and ask them. When I am working remote, I have to set up a time to talk or wait until they get back to me.
A Real Christian Businessman recognizes these situations but rises above! We see the inherent difficulties with working from home yet embrace them as opportunities. We are kind to our co-worker who continues to “ping” us for an answer via Instant Message. We respond promptly to our colleague who needs an answer related to what they are working on. We are understanding when someone doesn’t get back to us quickly as we know there could be something that came up in their personal lives that we don’t know about that is preventing them from responding.
In other words, we show compassion and etiquette, when most others don’t.
Let’s not get caught living as the world lives when it comes to etiquette in the workplace while we work from home. We can all show God’s love by doing a few simple things that we already know how to do.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Eph 4:32