Some unwritten rules about corporate behaviour: If you get promoted to a position above your colleagues, then you should no longer have personal relations with them.

In the beginning, you can still accept personal invitations but only reciprocate with group invites; later find ways not to have any social relations with them.

Also, you will no longer associate with your old gang during coffee breaks - you are always “too busy”. They will have to understand you now have a different role in the company.

Assuming you are a husband, allow your wife more time to pull away from friendships among those who are now your subordinates. She doesn’t understand office protocol as you do, needs to make the transition more slowly.

Yes, the process is a gradual one but eventually there will be no contacts except in the work context. You need to understand that the higher up you climb, the more lonely it gets.

I guess you had some inkling of these things, but did you fully understand the brutal reality of this coded system?

Is the caste system considered “good”? Yes - and essential. One department head told of an accounting manager having two close friends working for him who were inefficient and resented by other workers.

These hapless employees caused the company to lose business worth $40,000. When their manager was told to get rid of them, he didn’t take action. As a result, both he and the two clerks were fired. This manager failed to understand the demands of his position.

Related Articles