Your first day at work in Denmark: Flowers, handshakes, passwords, and several people named Mette

Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. Our new book, How to Work in Denmark is now available. Actually, the full name is How to Work in Denmark: Tips for Finding a Job, Succeeding at Work, and Understanding Your Danish Boss. You can get it on Amazon, Saxo, iTunes, Google Play, and in our webshop at howtoliveindenmark.com. You can also order it from any bookstore in the world. Today's podcast is an excerpt from the book. About what your first day at work in Denmark will probably look like. On your first day at work in Denmark, you may find a pretty bouquet of flowers on your desk to welcome you. It's not just a female thing— men get them too. In Denmark, the bouquet is just a way to say welcome and add some sunshine to an arduous day that is sure to include many handshakes and computer passwords. The flowers actually terrified a Chinese acquaintance of mine. She was accustomed to receiving flowers on her last day at work. She thought she'd been fired before she ever sat down. But no, flowers in Denmark are a sign of friendliness. Someone will probably be appointed as your mentor on the first day of the job, and that person will take you around to meet the people you'll be working with. as well as showing you the practical parts of the office, like the printer room and the bathrooms. Shake hands with everyone you meet, even if you have to reach over a desk to do it, and try to remember their first names, although you're probably going to get a lot of duplicates. Depending on the size of the company, you can expect to meet at least 2 or 3 people named Mette, or Søren, or Pia, or Magnus, or Lars. Last names are not important, at least until you have to find these people in an email list. Mr. and Mrs. and their Danish equivalents, herr and fru, are almost never used in Denmark. Now, when you meet the top bosses, don't act overly impressed. This will embarrass them, as you know if you've heard our podcast on understanding your Danish boss. The people you really need to be deferential to are the administrative staff. If you come from a country with a large population and a lot of unemployment, you may be accustomed to a large administrative staff that helps you with filling out forms and tracking expenses and setting up meetings, all those other small tasks. These helpful people are rare in Denmark because salaries are so high. Most professionals are expected to do this stuff themselves using online tools. Oftentimes, an entire department will be expected to make do with one administrative person, who officially reports to the top dog. This administrator might be able to help you with the online tools once or twice, but only to teach you how to use them yourself. Treat these administrative people with the extreme respect they deserve. You're going to need their help now with all the complications of getting started on the job, and you'll doubtless need them in the future at a time when you least expect it. Also be kind to employees who help with coffee or other refreshments. A hospital head of staff told me about a foreign doctor who began his tenure by being rude and dismissive to the coffee lady. He soon found himself as the only man in a meeting with no coffee. You'll also be expected to clean up after yourself. Sloppiness is not considered charming in Denmark, which is located just north of order-loving Germany. You'll be expected to leave your desk tidy at the end of your first workday and any other workday, and certainly to remove any leftover food or drinks. Many companies also expect you to wash out your coffee cup or your teacup and then place it in the shared dishwasher. Some teams share Friday breakfast together, and staff take turns putting away the bread and cheese and juice afterwards. Now, it may seem a little odd as a trained professional to occasionally be doing the work of a kitchen lady. But this is how the Danes do it, and they won't be pleased if you suggest that it's beneath you. Now, full-time cleaning staff take care of sweeping floors and, and other larger tasks. It's considered good manners in Denmark to greet them when you see them and, you know, even share a chat. One IT specialist from India told me he was shocked to see his department head sharing a joke with the cleaner. That would never happen in his country, he said. It happens in Denmark because it's considered good style for the boss to show that she sees herself as the equal of everyone else on the team, no more or less important than the cleaner. Actually, if the boss was away for a few days, business would probably run as usual. If the cleaner didn't show up, the result would be chaos. Anyway, you generally don't leave your Danish workplace during the workday unless you have a very good reason. Such as a client meeting, or if you or your child suddenly become ill. Lunches out are unusual in most companies. The team usually eats together in the company canteen, and leaving the office for personal errands is frowned upon. Oh, here's an important point: don't schedule meetings later than 3 PM or so. Your colleagues who have young children will be leaving at about this time to make the pickup from daycare. This applies to male colleagues as well as female colleagues. If you schedule a meeting later than 3 PM, these loving parents will either end up missing the meeting or get very annoyed at having to move their schedules around in order to attend. And when it comes to your second day of work, don't say godmorgen after 10 AM. The expression godmorgen in Denmark doesn't correspond directly to good morning in English. You can say good morning until about 11:59 AM in most English-speaking countries. Followed by good afternoon and good evening. But the time limit on the Danish godmorgen runs out at about 10 AM. Saying godmorgen after that time has a slightly sarcastic tone, along the lines of, well, it took you a while to get here. Thanks for showing up. The correct greeting after 10 AM is a simple hi or goddag, which is good day, followed by godaften and around 5 or so, 5 PM. Godnat, or good night, is only said when someone is getting ready to put on their pajamas. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. You can buy the book on our website, howtoliveindenmark.com. I will send it anywhere in the world. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter at How to Live in DK. The 2 is a number. See you next time.