Got etiquette?

Employers turn to consultants, training to help workers gain the personal skills they lack

Friday, June 29, 2007

In her elementary school some four decades ago, children shook hands with their teachers and said ‘‘thank you” at the end of every day.

‘‘It was just the norm,” said Lett, executive director of the International Society of Protocol & Etiquette Professionals in Silver Spring.

But that was then.

The much more informal atmosphere in which many of today’s children are being raised is affecting their conduct in school and carrying over into the workplace as they get older, Lett said. Without raising children with respect for their elders and for authority, fights in the hallways and disrespect for teachers are commonplace.

‘‘If we raise kids with disrespect for others, what are we going to have in the workplace?” Lett asked.

Proper business etiquette and interpersonal communication skills are becoming a rare commodity, especially among younger professionals, say Lett and others in the field. The phenomenon is boosting business for etiquette training professionals, and more companies are spending training dollars to bring employees up to speed on appropriate behavior.

Georgette ‘‘Gigi” Godwin, president and CEO of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, said age does not determine attitude.

‘‘Manners do not fall along any particular lines,” said Godwin, whose staffers range in age from 24 to 60. There are people of any age ready for the workplace, and others who need to improve, she said.

‘‘Business owners have always had to consider training for customer service, and that training has had to evolve as the customers evolve, as business opportunities evolve,” Godwin said.

Technical — butnot social — smarts

Increasingly, employees might have the technical smarts to get the job done, but might not know how to talk to customers or clients, shake hands well or dress appropriately for work, Lett said.

‘‘Particularly the young people coming out of college now,” she said, ‘‘are very casual, very informal.”

Most of the people they interact with share the same social skills, so they get comfortable and do not feel the need to change, she said. They are unable to work well in teams and do not know how to respond professionally to negativity toward them on the job.

They don’t know how to use words diplomatically, she said. ‘‘They don’t even know what those diplomatic words are.”

These attitudes bother many employers because ‘‘their bottom line is affected by the impression that other people — buyers, clients, customers — have of the company,” Lett said. And each employee represents the company.

Educators Serving the Community, known as EduSerc, is a nonprofit organization in Laurel that provides career and personal development training primarily to young people. It has encountered client companies with similar concerns about new employees, said executive director Brian K. Smith.

Job applicants’ résumés may look terrific, but their speaking and presentation skills often need improvement, he said.

And it’s not just language and manners that need help.

Some young people do not know how to dress for an interview and respond appropriately to questions, Smith said. Many show more interest in their prospective salary than in the work itself.

Although young adults new to the work force might stumble through some etiquette blunders, some behaviors cross generations, experts say.

Most of Lett’s ‘‘students” are in their late 30s, 40s and early 50s. ‘‘It’s because they have gotten into business, they have had a few successes, but realize that they could have had a whole lot more if they had some certain skills,” she said.

Lett starts her seminars with a quiz, and in the 23 years that she’s been doing this, ‘‘nobody has gotten them all right,” she said. This includes general managers of luxury hotels, CEOs and all levels of management, she said.

Emily Post lives on

Emily Post became known as the guru of good manners in the United States after she published ‘‘Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage” in 1922. Her family has continued her tradition as standard-setters of proper conduct through the Emily Post Institute in Burlington, Vt., which she founded.

The number of etiquette seminars the institute conducted at companies increased 375 percent from 2005 to 2006, said Post’s great-grandson, Peter Post, the director and co-author of ‘‘The Etiquette Advantage in Business.”

Businesses often recognize they have highly qualified employees with the appropriate job skills coming to work for them, but companies tell the institute that their personal skills and ability to build relationships with clients are ‘‘inadequate, and in some cases actually harming the business,” Post said.

The employers cannot simply hire new personnel because they still encounter the same challenges, Post said, which is why they have implemented business etiquette into their training curriculum.

And with a tight labor market, finding replacements might be even more challenging. The state’s unemployment rate was 3.4 percent in April, according to the latest figures from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The national jobless rate in May was 4.5 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The 2003 State of the Workforce Report for Maryland by the Governor’s Workforce Investment Board forecast for 2000 to 2010 projected that industries set to gain the greatest number of jobs due to economic growth are services, retail trade and finance, insurance and real estate.

Internal training programs focus on behavior

Sue Murphy, manager with the National Human Resources Association of Nashua, N.H., said she has not noticed a rush by employers to hire etiquette consultants. But she knows of a number of companies that have woven proper business etiquette and behavior training into their internal training programs, covering interpersonal skills development, collaboration and teamwork, and written and verbal communication.

Younger people entering the work force might need a little more coaching to be at work on time or to improve their communication, she said.

‘‘Each generation enters the work force with a shared set of experiences,” Godwin said. Her generation of baby boomers grew up with television, whereas young people today are accustomed to being connected to people via cell phones and e-mail, she said.

Through these media, they are not only better connected, but are more constantly connected, she said. The tools they use affect how they get information and communicate, she said.

Cynthia B. Bronson, president and CEO of The Bronson Group International in Stafford, Va., focuses on etiquette training for the technology industry and government market.

Some complaints from technology companies she has worked with concern gossip and inappropriate conversation.

Gossip in the workplace is a serious issue, she said, and employers want staff to stop talking about co-workers. And graphic, explicit language is unsuitable for the office.

Lack of respect for other people’s personal workspace is also a concern. ‘‘It is disrespectful and lacks integrity to remove items from someone’s area without permission and without returning it,” Bronson said.

Some employees might stand beside co-workers’ cubicles and eavesdrop on their phone conversations, she said. The appropriate thing is to come back later.

The Protocol & Etiquette group’s mission is to bring etiquette back into the classroom , Lett said. While there are some after-school programs that cover manners and behavior, they do not reach enough people.

These issues should be addressed in elementary and middle schools, Lett said, ‘‘because the earlier you get to them, the better.”

Source: ‘‘The EtiquetteAdvantage in Business”by Peggy and Peter Post