“To err is human”,
Alexander Pope
And as the saying goes, making mistakes is not unusual or unfound, but when these mistakes turn into an everyday event, becoming habits and personality traits, being carried around by people (even you), it starts affecting our everyday lives.
A big part of one’s everyday life is their work life, and certain habits at work are seen as bad work habits, which can go as far as costing one their job, including you, yourself. Therefore, it is important that you stop, and take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror to check if you have any one of these bad work habits and if you do, it’s high time you drop them right away!
1. Not Being Punctual
One of the first and foremost indicators of being a responsible and disciplined person is based on how punctual a person is. Punctuality indicates that you take your work seriously. So, if tardiness is one way people describe you, it’s high time you change that about yourself.
2. Poor Time Management Skills
Another habit related to time is time management. One simply must be able to prioritize and manage their time properly if they want to be in the good books of their authorities. Poor time management skills spin the entire day out of control, getting lesser work done, which might be alright occasionally, but on a day to day basis, is a clear cut red alert. If you are someone who can not manage time efficiently, you might want to get a head start and learn how to do so.
3. Anger Issues
It is quite normal to get angry occasionally when one is under immense work pressure. However, blowing off steam and losing one’s temper in an inappropriate manner, or often is a sure shot indicator of poor management of working under pressure and inability to handle big responsibilities. So if you’re someone who gets angry rather easily, it is advised you learn how to handle pressure and control your anger in most situations.
4. Bad Body Language
This one is probably unexpected, considering a lot of people pay no heed to their body language and posture. However, it is important we remember the old saying, “actions speak louder than words” and realize we may be communicating way more via our non-verbal cues than by actually speaking.
Having a poor handshake, overuse of hand gestures, rolling one’s eyes and not making eye contact are subconsciously, and for certain employers, consciously considered unprofessional. For a smooth career advancement, it is imperative you look at your body language and maintain a positive, professional and a confident stature.
5. Poor Networking Skills
In today’s world, networking is key to career advancement. If you are somewhat of a lone wolf, you must know by now, that being a ‘loner’, is seen in a negative light by employers and authorities. It gives off a clear cut signal that you are not a team player and would rather work all alone, which is unacceptable in today’s environment.
Moreover, for advancement, having a tight network is imperative, which could come through colleagues, authorities or/and even having good relationships with people working in other companies. A person with a good network is more of an asset to a company, than someone who is a “loner”.
6. Procrastinating
An absolute no-go and unacceptable habit by any employer is procrastination. If you leave your work to the last minute, it could have serious impacts on not only your quality of work, but also the people you are working with. Procrastinating one’s work also sets the base for other people having to work at the last minute, especially when your work is directly linked to theirs, which may anger them and create a negative perception of you.
7. Not Being Attentive & Efficient
If you aren’t attentive to your work surroundings and get distracted easily, people will mark you as a less desirable employee, considering you tend to not pay attention to important details, and are not very observant. This, in turn will also affect your efficiency. If you become an inefficient employee, sooner or later you won’t get as many projects in your hand, and career advancement will be bare minimum. Worst case scenario, you could also get sacked. If you aren’t efficient, then you most likely are not a proper fit for the company.
This was a list of certain bad work habits that are not taken well by the employers and authorities and must be dropped immediately. If you notice some of them in yourself, we would suggest you start working on them, so as to portray yourself in a good light. It’s safe to say then, that you will excel if you leave behind these seven bad work habits, among the rest!
Sangita
29 Nov 2019Great article! An immediate check for red flags. Thanks 🙂
Sakhi
29 Nov 2019Hi Sangita, thank you so much! Glad you liked the article
Yash
29 Nov 2019Hi Sakhi! Thank you for the article, it was a good read and really helpful.
Sakhi
29 Nov 2019Hi Yash, thank you and glad you liked it!