What makes a good co-worker?

In our job, many of us have to work quite closely with other people. Unless you hold quite a senior position in a company and have your own office, you most likely have to share a large open-plan office with a number of other people. This means that you have to work in quite close proximity to them, which can be trying.

You obviously cannot choose the people you work with and you just have to get along with them as well as possible. Of course, this is much easier with some people than with others. It depends on their characteristics and personalities, and on the degree to which you and they are compatible.

It is good to work with people who are easy-going by nature, people who get along well with most other people and who are generally amenable to other people’s suggestions. Such people are not easily annoyed and they are seldom moody. Like most of us, they might get angry or upset from time to time over a specific matter, but mostly they are even- tempered. They are invaluable because they help to create an overall feeling of calm in a firm or department.

Courtesy is also an important quality to have in co-workers. If you are to have a pleasant working environment, it is vital to have people around who are polite and well-mannered and who show respect for the wishes of others. Such people make sure that something they are doing, or are about to do, does not inconvenience someone else. It is good to be able to rely on someone asking you if you mind if they open a window, draw a blind, borrow a pen and so on, rather than just going ahead and doing so without a word to you.

It is also important to have co-workers who have no annoying habits, particularly if you are sharing a reasonably small space with them. A habit that might not seem particularly annoying, if you encounter it only a few times, can make you feel like screaming if you have to put-up with-it day after day. For example, someone might constantly tap a pen on the desktop or against their teeth, when they are concentrating.

If you are a member of a small team of people, it is important that your co-workers all realize the importance of teamwork and team spirit. It makes life difficult for everyone else if someone is more intent on furthering his or her own ambitions and career prospects than on making a success of team ventures. Team members must pull together.

Then, if you are to enjoy your working situation, you have to be able to trust your co-workers. For example, you are going to feel far from comfortable if you are constantly worrying that a fellow worker might betray you by telling exaggerated tales about you to the boss when you have done something relatively minor. It is also a miserable feeling to have when you think that you are working with someone whom you know to be a liar.

Finally, it is important that your co-workers are good and effective workers, people who can be relied upon to put effort into their work. When a team is working on a project, it creates more work for the others if one or more members are not pulling their weight.

It is fairly easy to describe the ideal characteristics of a co-worker; it is not so easy to find someone with all the qualities.