Some employers mandate etiquette classes as returning office workers walk barefoot, burp loudly and microwave fish

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Some employees who are now having to go into the office may have never done so before — and they’re joining others who may have forgotten how to act or dress professionally because of the past three years of pandemic-induced remote work. To address these and other concerns, more than 60% of companies are giving or plan to give their employees etiquette classes by next year, according to a new survey by ResumeBuilder.com. The survey of 1,548 business leaders last week found that many of them were concerned about the way employees are dressing, as well as their interactions with one another or with customers. Among the C-suite executives, HR managers and other leaders who said they plan to offer etiquette courses, 60% said the courses will be required for all employees; 21% said the courses will be optional; and 19% said they will be required for some employees. Among those who said the classes will be required for only some employees, 54% said the training will be required for most or all new college graduates and employees ages 18 to 27, according to ResumeBuilder’s survey. That makes sense to Brandi Britton, the executive director of Robert Half, the global talent and business consulting firm. A recent report by Robert Half on the multigenerational workforce found that “one of the top things Generation Z wants is guidance,” she said. “They want feedback about what’s appropriate and not appropriate.” Britton added that some recent college graduates who are now navigating an office environment in person may have even had to finish college remotely. “‘We’ve had to do some basic training about how to dress for work for a client who had people showing up looking like they were hanging out at a wild frat house on a Saturday.’” — Kate Zabriskie, a trainer at Maryland-based Business Training Works But she said that across generations, among the things she has seen come up with clients recently include employees walking around the office barefoot, burping loudly while sitting next to each other, and microwaving fish — a timeless office offense. Some companies are bringing in outside help. Business Training Works, a Maryland-based training and consulting company that serves clients around the country, has seen an uptick in requests for team-building training, etiquette courses and general communication, according to one of its trainers, Kate Zabriskie. “We’ve had to do some basic training about how to dress for work for a client who had people showing up looking like they were hanging out at a wild frat house on a Saturday,” she said. Other things her company has had to do: teach employees not to steal food from the office refrigerator, and tell them, “Don’t get drunk at work functions with clients.” Zabriskie said some of the training she and her colleagues are being asked to do is familiar — they had to do some of that before the pandemic. “Whenever environments shift, someone will have a training need somewhere,” she said. In 2020, she added, she had a worker dial in as he was getting out of the shower and “show up naked for a virtual training.” Luckily, she said, she was only “greeted by a hairy chest.”