Boundaries of professional conduct to employees

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In today's informal workplaces and corporate cultures, managers may cross the boundaries of professional behaviour to employees without realizing it. However, where are the boundaries between professional and unacceptable behaviour? They cannot be set exactly, but if you repeatedly commit the following bahaviour, you have already crossed them.

You talk about employees' salaries in front of their colleagues

Individual's amount of salary is confidential information not intended for anyone else. If you use comments like: "We do not pay you enough." or "We pay you too much.", you will only make employee relationships worse.

You criticize employees in front of their colleagues

Public criticism is a form of bullying. Even if an employee makes a mistake and deserves punishment, he deserves also solving it with you in private.

You have ridiculous expectations

Managers must clearly communicate their expectations to their people and offer a helping hand if needed. Deadlines for completing projects must be realistic.

You share too much personal details

Your employees are not your psychotherapists. They do not have time to solve your personal problems. Like you do not want them to bring their personal life to work, they expect the same from you.

You make inappropriate remarks

Any remark whereby employees are ashamed, blush or feel uncomfortable is inappropriate. This applies to verbal expressions as well as for email.

You evaluate work performance using factors such as gender, race, age or religion

These factors have nothing to do with performance and can be considered discriminatory.

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Article source Forbes.com - prestigious American business magazine and website
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