Maybe you have resorted to writing a passive-aggressive note reminding your fellow workers to wash their own coffee cups, or perhaps scoffed at a simi

How does bad office kitchen etiquette affect the overall culture of a workplace?

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2024-04-01 23:30:04

Maybe you have resorted to writing a passive-aggressive note reminding your fellow workers to wash their own coffee cups, or perhaps scoffed at a similar missive left by someone else.

But the cleanliness of an organisation's communal kitchen and bathroom facilities is no laughing matter and as Libby Sander, an assistant professor of Organisational Behaviour at Bond University on the Gold Coast/Yugambeh Country explains, it can be a good indicator of overall office culture.

"Going into the bathrooms and kitchen will clearly tell you, without spending a lot of money on engagement surveys, do people actually care about the workplace that they're in?"

Dr Sander says most employees don't deliberately set out to disregard their co-workers' feelings, but a lack of consequences for inconsiderate etiquette can lead to it becoming entrenched behaviour.

"It might be 'well, I didn't wash my hands and I ate my lunch that time, so maybe it's fine, I'm not going to get sick'; or, 'I didn't wash my coffee cup and somebody else washed it up for me, that was good, maybe I'll just keep doing that'."