How to create a better office environment with furniture, supplies, and products

Frankly, I don’t think that I ever celebrated boss day and I don’t know that I’ve ever worked somewhere that has celebrated it or even mentioned it. However, I hear it’s a real holiday. Still, if I started celebrating now I’d have a whole lot of bosses to contact being that I have about nine or ten projects going on at any given time and they’re all run by someone.

Is your boss a good guy or gal? Hopefully yes. If your boss is great feel lucky because I’ve had some horrid bosses and it can ruin your job. When you have a good boss it’s important to be a good employee so that the good boss sticks around. You don’t need a perfectly decent boss going off in search of a company with better employees because one small unlucky hire and who knows what kind of boss you’ll end up with...

That said; since it is bosses day here are three tips about how to be a great employee:

Use the proper chain of command: I don’t think I’ve ever seen bosses more angry than when you skip a step in the ladder. If you have a beef with an co-worker first try to work it out among yourselves. After that you’d hit up your direct supervisor for advice. After that his direct supervisor, and so on until you hit HR and eventually human rights groups. You don’t skip steps when you have a problem. It makes you look unprofessional and it’s not how things are done.

This is conditional by the way. If your boss is say, sexually harassing you or doing other things that make you uncomfortable you can go over their head – just make sure you have a real reason not a, “My boss has a lame idea” reason.

Cut out gossip: We all gossip a bit (you know you do) but out of control gossip can make the workplace unpleasant for everyone; boss included. Often with gossip it’s your boss not you who’ll have to clean up any aftermath.

Don’t whine: Personally whiners are one of my huge pet peeves. I’ve never been a big boss but I have been in charge of programs and people and the whiners make any task just that much harder. Try some positive outlooks once in a while. If you whine every time your boss asks you something or has a new idea that gets old. If you have real concerns use real thoughts and words to discuss the situation but over dramatic sighs and eye rolling will get you nowhere. It certainly won’t score point or make your boss happy.

More tips:

Top 10 qualities of a good employee (great post).

This good employee checklist seems so simple – as if it was created for first time teens looking for work; yet, many of the tips are so relevant to all jobs your whole life that it’s worth a scan. Make sure you haven’t forgotten the basics.

Are you celebrating boss day today?