Where I work we all say "Du" to each other, only the bosses are "Sie".

And where I work, we all say "du" to each other, even the bosses. It's a company policy here. I think the best thing as a non-native speaker is to ask the boss if the company has a policy on it, or if everyone is Sie until you get offered Du. It's a valid question :)

Just ask you new colleagues how it is handled in this particular office.

It differs greatly across Germany depending on the field and size of the Company, avarage age of colleagues etc.

Bei meinen Kollegen in Skandinavien ist es üblicher als hier, dass man sich nach längerer Abwesenheit (Urlaub, Krankheit) mit einer Umarmung begrüßt. Wenn man sich näher steht, ist auch Kuss auf die Wange nicht selten. Diese Kollegen haben neulich einen amerikanischen Chef bekommen, der diese Willkommensgesten dahingehend falsch verstanden hat, dass er jeden Morgen alle seine Mitarbeiter geherzt hat. Das hat grenzlose Heiterkeit ausgelöst. Irgendwann hat sich jemand erbarmt, ihm zu sagen, dass ein schlichtes „guten Morgen“ auch reicht.

Also, in Deutschland brauchst Du die Kollegen, auch nicht zu küssen.

Even here in Germany you will find differences from one branch and one company to the other.

Just ask your boss / colleagues to help you through and give you a hint, if anything was received as not correct or as an affront. They will certainly appreciate your interest in learning their office culture.

Du/Sie: Listen carefully during the first days and you will very quickly find out what kind of Du/Sie culture is practised in the office. Being new in the company, I would wait until my colleagues offer the "Du", if they want to.

Anyhow: Good Luck!

Wir hier duzen uns auch fast alle, aber das hängt von der Größe des Unternehmens und den Leuten ab. EIner unserer zwei Geschäftsführer wird geduzt, der andere gesiezt. Mein direkter Kollege hier blieb fast zwei Jahre beim Sie, erst kürzlich sind wir zum Du übergegangen.

In großen Firmen ist das auch eine Frage der Position. Leute, die mehr als eine Position über oder unter einem stehen, werden meistens gesiezt (z.B. in dieser Kette: Angestellter-Teamleiter-Abteilungsleiter- Bereichsleiter-Geschäftsführer).

I can only agree with the previous comments about the use of du/Sie in German companies - in some companies, everyone is a 'du' person, in some companies you only call the bosses 'Sie', and in others you start out calling everyone 'Sie' until you're offered the 'du' form. I'd say err on the side of caution and start out calling everyone 'Sie' - if they want you to call them 'du', I'm sure they'll tell you. If you're learning German, hopefully they'll understand that the whole 'du/Sie' issue can be a bit confusing!

Apart from that, I can't think of anything major - in some companies it's common to wish your colleagues 'Mahlzeit' at lunch time, 'schönen Feierabend' when you finish work in an evening and 'schönes Wochenende' on a Friday evening. People may also wish you 'guten Appetit' when you're eating your lunch too. Like I said, though, I can't think of anything that would be seriously frowned upon.

I think it depends on the company you work with and even there it might be handled differently in each department. I used to work as temp worker for a great German Electricity Company. Some department used Sie and had a strict dress code, some used du except for the head and dressed down if they had no direct contact with clients. A basic rule some trainers give is: the older the company the more likely is the fact that they have a strict dress code and a formal way of dealing with one another. But I made the contrary experience while being "lent" to the Catholic Church.

Well, when you come to the office you say Hello to your direct colleagues and your boss and when you leave you say Bye. Normally you also say a quick hi and bye when you enter and leave the elevator and greet people in the hallway.
I thought this to be totally normal, but in Hongkong nobody says hi and bye, not in the elevator and not when you go to your office or whatever. Only in every shop they greet you even if you don't talk to them at all or were just hopping in for a quick look around.

IMO german office behavior seem to be a lot more about asserting your dominance, proving you're smarter/stronger/tougher than the next guy.
UK and US companies I've experienced were remarkable in the sense that team was a lot more than just another word from the boss' latest angry email, and in that managers seemed to want to be liked and respected, instead of obeyed and feared like here.

Wow that was a lot of info about du/Sie.

What about other things that should be looked out for? I'm really interested in learning about American office culture as well, since this is my first time working in an office in any country. I figured this was a perfect chance to get information and also to learn some cultural observations at the same time.

My biggest interest is in things that are considered rude in one environment but not in the other.

This doesn't just apply to office culture, but it's a big cultural difference between England and Germany, at least:

If you know it is someones birthday (e.g. at the weekend) do not wish them a happy birthday in advance. In England it's more of an embarrassment to be late, but apparently it's bad luck to be early in Germany.

And I find I have to be careful about when I start to eat. If you're eating with colleagues (or friends, or anyone), wait until everyone has their food (or until someone else has started eating) before tucking in. And say Guten Appetit before you do. People thought I was being very rude for starting to eat my sandwich before everyone was there. In my circle of friends in England, we only really wait if it's a big sit down meal, or a restaurant where all the food will come at (roughly) the same time. Here, I have the feeling that even informal lunches between colleagues need the waiting. Even if the waiting isn't necessary, the Guten Appetit is.

:)

I'm curious what some of the noticeable differences are

Wenn Du neu bist:
Du/Sie Vor/nachname
Erst mal jeden Siezen und mit Nachnamen ansprechen.

Grüßen
Morgens jeden, den man sieht, grüßen. In manchen Bereichen ist Handschlag üblich, in manchen nicht.
Auf dem Flur ist ein kurzes Nicken oder ein "Hallo" üblich, wenn man Kollegen sieht. Ist es eine Führungskraft, der man begegnet, ist evt. Handschlag angebracht, aber warten, dass Initiative von ihm ausgeht.
Abends beim Gehen genügt ein "Auf Wiedersehen" oder "bis morgen" für jeden, dem man begegnet.

Mittagessen
wenn man neu ist, möglichst mit den Kollegen in die Kantine, sich nicht ausgrenzen

Kleidung
anpassen an die der Kollegen

One thing that struck me as 'odd' when I first started working in Germany was that people often answer the phone by saying their surname, whereas English-speackers would usually just say hello. I found the following link about this too:
http://usaerklaert.wordpress.com/2006/09/20/k...

Oh, and it's often usual in Germany to bring cake into work for your colleagues on the first working day after your birthday.

Oops, 'speakers' of course

Die Süddeutsche Zeitung hat eine Serie über "Bürokultur" in Deutschland.

Mein Kollege sagt...

Ich kann allerdings nicht sagen, wie zutreffend dies ist, da ich nicht selber in einem Büro arbeite (und die Artikel deswegen auch nicht lese.:-)

My experience: You can do almost anything in a German office, but never EVER use someone else's coffee mug (or a mug that doesn't seem to belong to anybody, for that matter) unless you have asked permission first.

Actually, try to find out how birthdays are handled. I found anything from providing a whole midday meal (buffet style) for the complete work group of 8 - that was in a gouvernment office by the way - to providing cake for the whole company (about 20) or in some cases, Sekt (sparkling wine) was expected.

If your phone rings, you are supposed to say
Surname, Company Name, Guten Tag or any other combination of these. Large companies might have a
policy how to answer the phone, on small ones listed what your collegues are doing.

Oooh, yes the bringing in cake thing. I still wonder why I have to bring the cake on my birthday. Surely people are supposed to be nice to me then, not the other way round? I was a good girl though and made my colleagues a Victoria Sponge cake last year ;-)

listen
*argh*

The Germans I know even answer their private phones with their surname. My boyfriend always does, unless it's his mobile and he knows who's on the other end. I can't get used to that and always answer my phone with "Hallo".

At work we say Company Name, Surname, Guten Tag (or sometimes Guten Morgen before 12)

@bevalisch: Completely agree about the birthday cake and phone-answering! :-)

In Germany, you always have to do the baking on your own birthday (at least when you are female and over 18, if you are male, your spouse may do the baking and both men and women may nowadays simply buy some) - no matter if it's for the office or your birthday party (which have have to organize yourself).

I always just answered the phone with surname, I would suggest to listen to colleagues and do as they do it.

I forgot to mention that also when talking on the phone you say always Hi and Bye and not just hang up. Something I am still not used to here. My bye is usually too late and I find it unpolite not to say bye....

Well have a good night guys, I am off :) thank god to the time difference!

@ CJ - I would organise my own birthday party in England as well, but somebody else should make me a cake! I have no problem with providing drinks, nibbles… last year I even cooked a whole roast dinner for 10 people. But I draw the line at making my own birthday cake!

In Deutschland gehört der Kuchen zum Geburtstag einfach zum Essen, mit dem man seine Gäste oder Kollegen bewirtet. Und da Kaffee und Kuchen eine schöne deutsche Angewohnheit ist, liegt es nahe zum Geburtstag einen Kuchen mitzubringen.

Es gibt keinen speziellen "Geburtstagskuchen" für das Geburtstagskind.

I got a special "Geburtstagskuchen"! It had candles on and everything (well, a candle) The girl who made it is Swedish though.

I’ve been to a lot of parties (in my Studentenwohnheim) where somebody made a cake for the birthday girl/boy and put candles on it for them to blow out. Usually the cake waits in the kitchen on another floor until the time is right to bring it in. I suppose it is easier if you live in the same building though and don’t actually have to bring the cake from somewhere else.

Rämpftl, meine Familie und Freunde, größtenteils Deutsche, machen mir auch Geburtstagskuchen und ich ihnen.

@ Liese: Wirklich? Hm ... Ich kenn das nicht. Also noch mal von vorn:

In Sachsen und da speziell in der Oberlausitz ... (Es folgt der Rest meines Textes ab gehört.)

Summary: Always say hi and bye. Bring your own coffee mug. Shake hands. Wait to eat. Don't duzen unless first duzened. Bring your own Birthday Cake.

Scratch 'shake hands'. Do it when you are first (formally) introduced or at the job interview. For everyday use, look what your collegues are doing.

Rämpftl: Ich lebe in Hannover, hier muss man zwar auch Kuchen in die Arbeit mitbringen, bekommt aber von Familie und Freunden welchen. Wenn man Freunde auf der Arbeit hat, gibt es also manchmal doppelt Kuchen :)

Und man sollte auf der Arbeit die Bedeutung der Sekretärin nicht unterschätzen!

@#12: that's intersting. Ich kenne das naemlich anders herum. Das "Guten Appetit" kann man ruhig weglassen, aber bitte niemals anfangen zu essen, bevor nicht alle am Tisch sitzen.

Ansonsten ist es mE nicht nur im Buero sondern auch privat die Regel, dass man sich mit dem Nachnamen am Telefon meldet. Vielleicht nicht am Handy, weil das doch recht privat ist (aussser Firmenhandy vielleicht). Aber wenn ich nicht weiss, wer mich anruft, melde ich mich in DE auch immer mit dem Nachnamen. Einmal damit der andere weiss, mit wem er spricht und dann hat das auch immer etwas mit Respekt und Distanz zu tun. Das ist dasselbe wie siezen. Dadurch, dass ich mich mit meinem Nachnamen melde, muss ich gesiezt werden...

Surely bringing cake is just as popular in the UK? I have seen lots of birthday-girls (admittedly less boys) providing cake for the whole group. My friend would always look forward to the days after her office-co-workers' birthdays.

I've never worked in an office in the UK so I can't say for certain, but, just like Bevalisch, I still find it odd that the birthday boy/girl is expected to provide cake for everyone else, when in Britain they would generally be GIVEN the cake by others - whether or not that also applies to offices, I have no idea, but it's still important to know when working in Germany! :-)

In the UK office I work, I only realize that it's someone's birthday, when everybody receives an email saying: "It's my birthday. Cake in the same place as always. Enjoy!"

about cake: when I worked in Belgium (Antwerp, Flandres) for a few years, I observed the same habit as we have in Germany: everybody brought cake at the own birthday. Only, most of them used to buy it at a bakery (the typcial belgian "Koffiekoekjes").