Remembering How to Socialise: Is Office Etiquette Changing?

Have we met on a call?

What's the strangest part of meeting your remote colleagues in person for the first time? For over 5,000 people on LinkedIn, it’s a tie between ‘not recognising them’, ‘running out of small talk’, and ‘not having a mute button’, which is surprising considering we could never use it properly. The awkwardness of ‘not remembering you had met’ came in at last place, but still raked in 22% of votes.

Job moves during the pandemic have meant that many workers spent the summer meeting their colleagues in person for the first time. And it can take some social navigation.

“You’ve got to bite the bullet”, says Wumi Eyiangho, an Agent in our Flexible Office Solutions team. “There’s no harm in re-introducing yourself in person, or double-checking someone is who you think they are. You never know, they might be in the same boat as you.”

Beyond trying to recognise people without their houseplants, fridge magnets and wall art, these “second first impressions” are a chance to truly get to know our colleagues.

Traditionally, we use cues such as movement styles, body language, eye contact, and even height to gauge people – and we usually do this in one tenth of a second according to Amelia Tate in Wired. But these are all things that video calls filter out: we’re often seated, we monitor our body language because we can see ourselves move, and we don’t know who’s looking at whom.

Steven Lydon, a Senior Agent in our Flexible Office Solutions team explains: “It’s an opportunity to actually connect, talk about things outside of a Zoom call agenda and witness first-hand how people like to work.”

Despite government restrictions easing, not everyone is comfortable with the old normal.

Handshake, elbow tap, or two metres?

Part of those “second first impressions” involves learning (and setting) real-world boundaries. You don’t need to tell someone on Zoom that you’re not ready for a handshake. And despite government restrictions easing, not everyone is comfortable with the old normal.

The day after social distancing ended in the UK, Sophie, a marketing professional in London, was shocked when a colleague shook her hand then sat next to her: “Everyone else had kept an empty desk between them, so I was surprised when he didn’t. And the handshake happened too quickly to politely decline.

“I later pretended my screen had stopped working so I could move desks without offending him. I didn’t want anyone to think I was being paranoid or square, but people are moving at different paces, and that’s easy to forget.”

Some businesses have opted for traffic light systems: red lanyards for social distancing employees, amber lanyards for cautious non-handshake employees, and green lanyards for those ready to freely socialise.

“It’s one way of alleviating the stress of setting your boundaries during every interaction,” says Oliver Levesley, a Surveyor in our Flexible Office Solutions team. “Quite often, points of physical closeness like hugs, handshakes or even impromptu chats are spontaneous – they come with little warning and even less time to manage.”

But it’s not the only new stressor.

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“Can you go on mute?” is having its encore, but this time, it’s because we can hear your whole team, not your washing machine.

Has the office always been this loud?

Earlier this month, The Washington Post published an article titled: “Workers are putting on [trousers] to return to the office only to be on Zoom all day.” It tracks a bizarre new reality where employees are at their desks, working virtually. The result, of course, is office noise levels are reaching new highs – so much so that the demand for phone booths has risen exponentially.

In a recent interview, Francesca Cooper-Isow explained: “Managing Zoom culture is everyone’s greatest challenge right now. It doesn’t take long to realise how noisy an open-plan office is when everyone’s on a Zoom call with their WFH colleagues and clients.”

“Can you go on mute?” is having its encore, but this time, it’s because we can hear your whole team, not your washing machine. And there’s no way to silence the enthusiastic voice beside you, or the one behind you, or the one in front of you.

Calls aside, for employees who became accustomed to the quiet of working from home, those private, in-office workspaces are crucial to maintaining productivity – or mentally recharging when needed.

According to a LinkedIn poll that asked “What sort of background noise do you prefer while working?”, 54% of employees said ‘music or the radio’, 34% said ‘as quiet as possible’, 6% said ‘television or the radio’, and 6% said ‘colleagues chatting.’

In fact, research found office noise was associated with higher levels of stress and negative moods – “just eight minutes in a simulated open-plan office heightened negative mood by 25%.”

Tom Walsh, a Senior Surveyor in our Flexible Office Solutions team explains: “The stress comes from being unable to control your immediate environment. You can’t exactly tell colleagues to keep it down.

“Moving desks isn’t always feasible, and sometimes playing music through headphones only adds an additional layer of noise, rather than drowning it out. That’s why variety is so important. Having a range of spaces employees can choose from, be it phones booths or designated quiet zones, can make an enormous difference.”