Three tips for surviving a British workplace
Certain quirks of the British workplace often leave newcomers baffled – from saying ‘please’ to frequent trips to the pub. Here are three tips for navigating office life.
If you’re an expat working in the UK for the first time, you’ll have to adapt to more than colleagues who have a penchant for tea and use phrases like ‘bank holiday’ and ‘loo’. From how frequently you might want to use words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to when you should really show up for that 10am meeting, nearly every aspect of British work life will differ from what you’re used to – even if you come from the English-speaking US.
Thank you, please
As the saying goes, good manners cost nothing. Adding a ‘please’ or a ‘thank you’ to everyday interactions can make things go a lot more smoothly, but how we use these words – and how they’re received – depend on where we’re from.
Researchers at the University of Sussex and University College London looked at the presence and absence of the word “please” in 1350 requests in British and American corporate emails. They found that Brits used the word more than twice as much as their American counterparts.
Pints after five
Boozing has long been a part of Britain’s work culture – so much so that investment market Lloyd’s of London made headlines around the world last month when it banned its staff members from daytime drinking.
While daytime drinking is becoming less common for most industries, and while young Brits are drinking less overall than they did a decade ago, if you look in most city pubs during the weekday after 5pm you’re likely to find colleagues wetting their collective whistles.
While beers after work can encourage camaraderie and even help managers and board members get along, there’s a danger in overdoing it – especially for a newcomer not acquainted with the culture of the office.
全文請看
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170309-three-tips-for-surviving-a-british-workplace
留言列表
