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No one wants to be that coworker. You know, the one everyone talks after a work party.
Work gatherings can be a great way to connect with your colleagues and celebrate your professional accomplishments together. However, inappropriate behaviors can harm your professional reputation.
That’s why Business Insider asked two etiquette experts to share the mistakes guests should avoid making at work events. Here’s what they said.
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Pamela Eyring, owner of The Protocol School of Washington, which teaches business etiquette, told Business Insider that when it comes to work events, a big faux pas is dressing too informally for the business environment.
“Before you go to the work party, think about what you’re going to wear,” she said. For example, you don’t want to dress like you’re going to a nightclub.
When in doubt, avoid styles you’d be uncomfortable wearing to work during the day. You can also try checking the event’s invitation for a dress code.
In addition to dressing professionally, though, Eyring also emphasized the importance of communicating the dress code to any guests you bring.
At seasonal events and parties, it’s especially important to steer clear of holiday-specific wishes unless you know exactly what your colleagues celebrate.
When in doubt, Sheree Bryant Sekou, a business-etiquette expert and leadership consultant, said it’s best to stick to broad, culturally sensitive greetings like “happy holidays.”
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“A lot of people avoid senior leaders, like the president, CEO, or even their boss’s boss” at work events and parties, Eyring said.
But instead of being fearful of saying hello, she told BI that guests should use this opportunity to make their presence known to senior leaders.
If you’re unsure of what to say, try referencing something they’ve shared recently — or simply thank them for hosting the party.
“If there’s a DJ or band, prepare to get up and dance, even if you don’t like to or don’t think you are good at it,” Eyring told BI. “If there are activities, participate.”
After all, this is your opportunity to connect with coworkers and show them a lighter side of you that they may not always get to experience in the workplace.
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Eyring told BI that one of the biggest mistakes you can make at a work party is hiding behind your phone.
“There are a lot of people who feel anxious when attending these events, and they don’t really know many people,” Eyring told BI. “Instead of mixing and mingling because they’re introverted or feeling anxious, they sit behind their phone and scroll.”
However, by doing this, you’re missing out on a valuable chance to network and get to know other people at the company.
Of course, there are valid reasons to have a phone out during the party. But if you’re showing colleagues photos on your phone, for example, do it quickly and then put it away, Eyring said.
Eyring said another appropriate use case for phones at a work party includes taking photos with coworkers — but only if permission is obtained first.
“People don’t always like having their photo taken when they aren’t posed or haven’t been asked to be a part of a photo,” she told BI.
Likewise, it’s a good idea to ask for permission before posting or sharing the photo with others. “Some people also don’t want to be seen on someone else’s social media page drinking, or holding a glass, either,” Eyring said.
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At work events, it’s best to steer clear of any topic that could be seen as delicate or controversial.
“Proceed with caution when mentioning anything that falls into a category where people might have distinct or strong feelings about that topic. That includes politics, romantic relationships, money, and religion,” Sekou told BI.
Instead, she said, it’s safer to have low-stakes conversations about family, vacations, and hobbies.
When extra food is left behind, it can be tempting to pack it up to take home. However, this can come across as rude at a party.
“When you attend a work event, the goal is to connect and build relationships. Packing up food and other leftovers could be perceived as uncouth,” Sekou said.
She also suggests being mindful when it comes to how much you take to eat in general. If you’re not served a pre-portioned plate, avoid taking more food than you plan to eat in the moment.
Company events can be a great excuse to get to know your coworkers on a deeper level. However, it’s important that you don’t let an engaging conversation cause you to overstay your welcome.
According to Sekou, it’s essential to pick up on social cues and leave at the appropriate time.
“Pay attention to cues around exiting. Sometimes the music may go down, or the lights may come up. You might start to see people putting away dishes,” Sekou said. “That’s your sign to start winding it down.”
JP Yim/Getty Images for The Asian American Foundation
Andrew Yang has warned for several years that automation would upend the American workforce.
In the run-up to his 2020 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, he predicted that self-driving cars alone could displace a million mostly male truck drivers with limited education — a shift that could “destabilize society” and even trigger “riots in the street,” he told The New York Times in 2018.
Seven years later, Yang says the crisis he feared is no longer hypothetical.
“It’s aging very, very well, unfortunately,” he told CNN’s Michael Smerconish of his predictions in a recent interview.
Recent analyses indicate that AI and automation are already capable of performing a significant share of US labor tasks and are reshaping employment.
MIT’s Iceberg Index, released last week, found that current AI systems can already technically perform skills representing 11.7% of the US labor market — roughly $1.2 trillion in wages across finance, healthcare, and professional services.
The New York Times, citing internal Amazon strategy documents and interviews, reported in October that the company believes automation could allow it to avoid hiring more than 600,000 US workers over the next few years, and that its robotics team has an ultimate goal of automating 75% of its operations.
Salesforce, Walmart, HP, IBM, and Fiverr have all cited AI in recent rounds of layoffs or announced layoffs tied to AI.
“44% of American jobs are either repetitive manual or repetitive cognitive and thus could be subject to AI and automation,” Yang said in the interview with CNN. “We’re seeing that unfold right now.”
Yang’s 44% estimate is broadly in line with some major studies on automation.
An IMF analysis from 2024 suggested that around 60% of jobs in advanced economies will be affected by AI, with half benefiting from the technology and the other being negatively impacted by it.
A McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report released last month found that technologies could theoretically automate more than half of US work hours.
Yang pushed back against Roman Yampolskiy, a computer science professor at the University of Louisville and an AI safety researcher, who in September predicted 99% unemployment within five years.
“It’s going to get bad. I certainly don’t think 99% bad,” Yang said.
Using his 44% vulnerability benchmark, Yang offered a rough projection: if the US “churns through” even half of those jobs over the next decade, the country could see 30 to 40 million positions eliminated.
“That would be devastating,” he said. “That would be catastrophic for many, many communities.”
The rapid pace of AI-driven disruption has revived Yang’s signature policy idea: a universal basic income that gives every American adult $1,000 a month, no strings attached.
He said guaranteed cash would help workers survive the shockwaves of automation and maintain basic economic stability.
To fund a nationwide program, Yang said the firms driving AI’s explosive growth should bear the cost.
He cited Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who floated to Axios in May the idea of a “token tax” that the government should levy on AI companies.
With tech giants generating “hundreds of billions” in value — powered in part by data the public never knowingly provided — Yang said an AI tax or “compute tax” could raise “very big numbers very quickly.”
Given that the US produced roughly $85,000 in GDP per person in 2024, according to the World Bank, Yang said his $12,000 annual Freedom Dividend “seems pretty modest and reasonable.”
Yang said that a cash stipend isn’t a cure-all — people also need purpose, structure, and a sense of community.
But without financial stability, he said, millions risk being left behind and pushed toward radicalization.
“We could be doing much, much more for the millions of Americans who are going to be displaced,” Yang said.