20-40-60 Etiquette---Treat everyone the same?

YOU ASK! WE ANSWER! YOU DECIDE!

QUESTION: I work in a corporate environment and on my floor are several men and women with high corporate standing as in the president and vice president of the company.There are also others around me who just started working here and I don’t know them very well.

Is it good manners to treat the company executives with more respect and courtesy and friendliness, particularly since I have been here for 10 years and know them all very well, or should I treat everyone the same?

CALLIE’S ANSWER: Do what you feel comfortable doing. Do not overstep your boundaries with the higher standings you have known longer. Get to know the new ones though, just because you have been there longer doesn’t mean that you can’t make new friends at work.

Be nice to everyone. You never know who they might know.

LILLIE-BETH’S ANSWER: Interesting question. My short answer would be that it’s important to treat everyone with respect, from the part-time employee who just started with the company on up to the president.

After all, each employee contributes for better or worse to the office atmosphere, and respect at all levels fosters a sense of camaraderie and collaboration that’s important to get work done. But since you know the higher-level executives better, for now, your dealings with them will automatically be more familiar and less formal. In time, you’ll probably get to know the new employees like that, too. So defer to the senior officers when you need to and include the lower-level employees when you can. Start by doing the best you can in the job you’re assigned to do and let the relationships take care of themselves.

HELEN’S ANSWER: It is important that you show respect, courtesy and friendliness to everyone, regardless of position. You never know which co-worker might be your boss some day.