Is raising your voice with co-workers acceptable at your workplace?

[Anonymous]

Cordiality is generally the rule at my Fed agency and raising of voices is unacceptable, though I probably wrote the comment from a couple years back about a colleague who speaks in a raised voice when animated. Turns out that colleague DEFINITELY has a speech/hearing impediment.

Despite the overall cordial standard, there have been notable exceptions--a few cases of older white guys from an era where that behavior was acceptable, and one younger, ever-charming up the chain underrrepresented minority who got away with all manner of unprofessional behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no place for raising your voice in the workplace. None. Whatsoever. If you can't control your temper enough to speak to others in a calm and collected manner, you don't belong in your job. Plain and simple. It is entirely unprofessional for any adult to raise their voice at another adult in the workplace. This employee is not being "too sensitive" and being dismissive of her feelings is not the path you want to go down.

Agree with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn't a simple case of someone raising their voice to this person. She walked in on an already heated discussion and proceeded to interject herself into it. How was that going to turn out well? She is not an innocent victim here. Painting this as if she suddenly got yelled at out of the blue is disingenuous. If that were the case, certainly that would be misconduct. But it's not the case. She stirred the shit here and some got on her.

+1000. She walked into a conversation that DIDN’T include her to give her opinion to higher ups that didn’t ask?!? WTF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anger management is a sign of professionalism. In most white collar environments outbursts and yelling would subtly end one's career.

No one yelled. A raised voice is not yelling.

[Anonymous]

Not in my current one, but I used to work in a Biglaw firm and there were several partners known to be "yellers." If not to the point of screaming at the top of the lungs, certainly very harsh language. There was one partner who was known to throw things -- like if he got what he thought was bad work product from you, he'd throw it against the wall -- briefs, binders, whatever. I just looked him up, he doesn't work there anymore. I think biglaw used to be known for this, but now it's becoming increasingly more unacceptable (as it should be), so they have had talks with those people or gotten them out. It's bad publicity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She should not have walked in. And no, nobody yells at my law firm, except lawyers when they're on speakerphone. But we don't yell at coworkers.

+1 she was out of line walking in and then interrupting a conversation without being invited. She needs to be told that.

She’s also horrible at reading a situation. She should be coached on that.

But, there’s zero room for yelling at my big firm. It may have been the way it was done years ago, but it isn’t tolerated at all now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anger management is a sign of professionalism. In most white collar environments outbursts and yelling would subtly end one's career.

No one yelled. A raised voice is not yelling.

DP- It really doesn’t matter. Anything above a professional conversation will start a downward roll out the door unless that person takes significant steps to remedy. Work is stressful enough. No one wants a teller around.

[Anonymous]

I thinks it's unprofessional, along the same lines as crying. Men raise their voices and people make excuses. A woman cries and she's being unprofessional. My CEO has a habit of raising his phone and using profanity. It makes me lose respect for him every time.

[Anonymous]

No one yells in my workplace. I did have a door slammed in my face once, though (also unacceptable, obviously).

[Anonymous]

Raising one's voice is NOT acceptable in the workplace.

However this person should learn not to intervene in the future. I know it's ridiculous that she should have anything to learn from this experience, since she did absolutely nothing wrong, but that's how it is. Bully managers will keep being bullies.

[Anonymous]

Some peoples raised voice is because of excitement, not anger. This is fine.

Anger can be an issue. Sometimes, it is required to let people know actions are not acceptable. It can be done without yelling and cursing.

And sometimes it happens....Me? If I find my getting angry to the point where I will yell, I try to remove myself from the situation to think about what is going on.

My work is highly technical and often the data are nuanced. In some cases, it is possible to have strong disagreements because the data are not clear. And they can get heated. But, it is focused on the technical issues and not the person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thinks it's unprofessional, along the same lines as crying. Men raise their voices and people make excuses. A woman cries and she's being unprofessional. My CEO has a habit of raising his phone and using profanity. It makes me lose respect for him every time.

Agree with this. Two sides of the same coin, being unable to control one's emotions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Raising one's voice is NOT acceptable in the workplace.

However this person should learn not to intervene in the future. I know it's ridiculous that she should have anything to learn from this experience, since she did absolutely nothing wrong, but that's how it is. Bully managers will keep being bullies.

She may not have deserved the response but she definitely did something wrong by intervening in a conversation between two managers. It's also common courtesy to knock before entering an office when two people are having a discussion or to come back later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just started a new job and I am yelled at on a weekly basis. When I mentioned it to my boss, she said that is just the culture at this organization and not to take it personally. Looking for a new job ASAP.

I bet you work with my STBX. Good luck with all of that.

[Anonymous]

It's generally a bad practice to get pissy with people lower down the food chain from you, whether it's yelling, speaking to them condescendingly, or name-calling. I think the person who interjected should have also either come back later or at least not injected herself into a heated conversation, too, though.

The guy who said he didn't waste time on meetings isn't worth a second thought. Make sure whomever instructed you to invite him knows you did (so he doesn't blame you when he doesn't go) and make a mental note that he's a jackass.