The funniest habits of the British in the workplace

One of the funniest things a newcomer to Britain needs to get used to in the workplace is the ritual of tea and biscuits.

Chilean architect Camila Roque says that her London architecture firm has a bell that rings every 4:30 p.m. every day, signaling employees stop working and tea time, which is set up by a different team each week.

“I was told from the start that if you don't add milk to your tea, a cup of tea just doesn't count," says Rock, adding that she enjoys that social moment during the day.

And it's not funny, the Brits really do care about their daily cup of tea, and it's standard for all ages, in almost all areas of work. Although drinking tea at a certain time of the day is an old tradition, it is coming back again.

"It's an endearing tradition," says French fashion expert Erwin Welkmann, who moved to London from Paris in 2013.

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"Every time someone in my team goes for tea, he asks the rest of his colleagues if they'd like me to make tea for them too, and now all the team members know their favorite taste of tea," he adds.

A study prepared by Thomas J. Foodgibbs biscuit factory, which included 2,000 British workers, revealed that one in four people is keen to conclude a deal during one meeting because biscuits were present on the table, along with pieces of bread, chocolate and cake, which would all generate Positive reaction from both communities.

Teenage taboos, presented by Karima Kouh and prepared by Mais Baqy.

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James Field, Director of Training at Debrett Training Academy, says that the British feel it is important to offer a customer a cup of tea, because getting customers to your office can be difficult, and to get the most benefit from them it is very important to improve their hospitality.

What distinguishes the British?

Other nuances that characterize workplaces in Britain are too difficult to adapt to.

The culture in large corporations and corporations is often seen as cosmopolitan, but many expats agree that Brits have something special about them.

The casual conversation before the meeting is as purely a British affair as tea and biscuits. Field noted that Britons use talk about the weather, the food you eat and the number of attendees as starting topics for their meetings and as entry points for more serious conversations.

Talking too much is a challenge for people from regions such as the United States where assertiveness and direct exposure to the topic are highly valued leadership skills at work, both in person and online. To add to the confusion, talking too much can get you into trouble.

When Rock moved into her company's London office four years ago, she was taken aback by the quiet in the office. Although it was a sprawling workplace, larger than any I've worked in in Chile, it was devoid of any sound.

Even when her new colleagues spoke, they were apologizing for a mistake they made, for not leaving enough distance between themselves and the people waiting in line or to ask a question. “In Chile there are people who ruin the order in the office, but in Britain everyone is really silent and polite,” says Roque, 32.

Difficulty translating

Lawyer Sean Fitzgerald, who moved to London from New York in 2012, says that he knows an American in his firm who has become a supervisor for her fellow expatriates who struggle to adapt to Britain's delicate style of dealing.

"Americans show her emails, and she comments 'No, no, that's too direct' or 'This is way too aggressive.'"

When it comes to conflict within the workplace, the British find them less aggressive than their American colleagues.

"Certainly the British pay special attention to formalities," Fitzgerald adds. "I remember one or two controversial calls, during which it was astonishing to me to hear how two Britons confronted each other over the phone in the most polite and respectful manner."

American Amy Patterson says that Britons use "encapsulated phrases and indirect phrasing to convey to someone their annoyance without directly saying: You bother me." If the manager is not satisfied with a project you will not see him say he is not satisfied.

Instead, he says, "I can see what you're trying to do here, but let's talk about what you could do other than that."

There is no place to hide. When Patterson moved from Washington to London eight years ago to work as a marketing expert, she found that in the US capital, the square-shaped offices she had become accustomed to in the British capital had been replaced by open, staffed desks without walls.

She adds, "I felt like I had no privacy, and just making a phone call was a nightmare for me, as you feel that everyone can listen to the call you were making."

Patterson attributes the culture shock that Americans feel in Britain to "a lot of the little things that build up to make you feel different here".

Work-life balance

Most expats agree on one thing: Brits have excelled at separating work and life.

A normal working day for a Turk in his country, Arkan Atay, can extend from nine in the morning until about nine at night. The reason for this is not that he has more workloads than others in the world, but the reason is purely social. Employees spend hours eating lunch with colleagues, or taking long coffee breaks in an effort to break the monotony of the day.

Atay, 31, was surprised when he moved to Britain three years ago to work as a partner in commercial finance.

When his colleagues at the telephone company left their offices in London at 5 p.m., he recalled, “I said to myself, 'Everyone here works like a machine, eats breakfast or lunch while sitting at the computer, and they communicate with each other professionally. High".

It was very different from life in Istanbul, but Atay says he admired the balance in life in England. He liked to leave at five o'clock in the evening, not to open his e-mail on the weekends, and not to get bogged down in long discussions while working in the manner of the peoples of the Mediterranean.