A teenager’s first job can be deeply rewarding, a step towards independence and building skills. But that job may also involve an early taste of exploitative workplace behaviours, including abuse, bullying and harassment.

Every office has that one person that constantly has a story to tell or an irrelevant question to ask, making it so no one else in the office can actually get anything done.

When I tell people I work from home, they’re often jealous. Having worked in an office for years, I get it. But there are some things about working remotely that do actually suck.

Dear Lifehacker, My old boss was great. She and I got along, and she was a great manager. She got a new job and left the company, and they just hired someone to replace her. He's OK; he's just getting his bearings, so I'm withholding judgement. How can I set the stage early so he and I learn to get along well and work together?

To avoid a toxic workplace culture, it's important to know which phrases and actions can make employees from different backgrounds or identities feel uncomfortable and targeted. Not meaning to give offence does not excuse this behaviour - especially if you keep repeating it.

With that in mind, here are 14 seemingly innocent phrases to avoid (and what to say instead.)

Two years ago, at an all-staff meeting, I announced that we would be introducing unlimited annual leave. To be clear, I wasn’t talking about unlimited unpaid leave. Rather, staff would now be able to take as much leave as their hearts desired and every single day of it would be paid.

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. (AKA every office jerk's favourite day of the year.) If you're sick of hearing multiple exclamations of "shiver me timbers", "matey" and "arrrrr!", you need to take matters into your own hands. Here are some methods to kill vernacular piracy dead.

Back in the days of MSN Messenger, (Y) was a coding shortcut for the "thumbs up" emoticon. Many people continue to use this symbol to convey approval or affirmation - even in chat clients that don't support the code. This practice must be stopped. With firearms if necessary.

Dear Lifehacker, Today my manager told me that, rather than paying me a bonus each quarter, she would prefer to incorporate that bonus into my base salary moving forward. I fear this puts me in a bad position for negotiating a salary increase this year. Am I better off asking to keep the bonus and then negotiating a pay increase or should I accept their offer of incorporating the bonus into my base salary?

We intuitively know that a “happy worker is a good worker.” But what about their bosses? In the modern workplace, managers are accountable to several groups of people, from rank-and-file employees on one side, to chief executives and shareholders on the other. How well they juggle these conflicting pressures can determine not only their performance at work, but also how happy they are while doing it.

There’s a lot to be said for being a good coworker, but it’s important to remember that it’s not just about saying hello when you come into the office each day. Being a good coworker takes effort and can be considered an art form in some ways. As the workplace becomes increasingly social, coworker relationships play an important role in building a productive workplace.

Dear Lifehacker, I read somewhere that a creative workspace can lead to higher productivity and wanted to know if it's true? I work in a boring office job (it pays the bills) but I'm a creative type at heart. My question is, how can I add creativity to my corner of a boring workplace to inspire myself (preferably without getting in trouble)?

Even if your workplace has a relaxed dress code, there are probably a ton of unspoken rules that you're supposed to be following. Dressing appropriately for the job is more important than you realise - especially if you work in a large organisation where first impressions count. This infographic explains how to look your best in a variety of business environments; from 'baseline casual' to boardroom attire.

If meeting fatigue is crushing your will to live or if the work you're doing isn't challenging anymore, you are not alone.

You're thinking of jumping ship. Maybe it's your job, a relationship, a degree or some other commitment that's both so hard to keep doing and so hard to leave. Should you stay or should you go? Here's how to decide.

Whether you're doing the dishes, engaging in impromptu football or just unwinding at the bar, it is often necessary to roll up the sleeves of your dress shirt. Unfortunately, most of us are rubbish at it: either the shirtsleeves are a bulky mess or they constantly fall down your arms. (Sometimes both.) This infographic demonstrates how savvy businessmen do it.

The salad days of cryptocurrency are fading fast. Yesterday, the price of bitcoin fell below $6000. Some are predicting it could dip through $3000 in the months ahead. This is a far cry from December 2017, when a single bitcoin hovered around $25,000 in value.

During this week's crypto bloodbath, it might be tempting to poke fun at colleagues who invested heavily in bitcoin and wouldn't shut up about the huge profits they were making. Instead, try showing a little empathy.

As workplaces become increasingly difficult and damaging environments, there are plenty of articles and books on dealing with “psychopaths” among your colleagues.

But psychopathy is heavily contested as a diagnostic category. And labelling a coworker a psychopath fails to account for how our workplaces can encourage bad behaviour.

We've taken a look at a few ways to handle kitchen thieves, like using fake mouldy sandwich bags. However, if nothing is working it's time to move to a more extreme measure: including laxatives with your food.