If you’ve snuck a peek at CareerBuilder’s Big Game ad winners, you’ve probably noticed a recurring theme: workers questioning their current jobs because of workplace behavior.

Say what you will about the bizarre premises of casual Fridays with everyone in their underwear or, um, flatulent colleagues, but the inspiration behind these ads is sure to resonate with employees across the nation, if CareerBuilder’s latest survey is any indication.

The survey of over 4,900 workers nationwide, released Tuesday, found that 39 percent of workers don’t feel that they fit in with their colleagues.  When asked to name specific behaviors that have made co-workers feel as if they don’t fit in, workers reponded with the following:

• Co-worker ate the cheese off the pizza box at a company meeting.
• Co-worker talks openly about flatulence.
• Co-worker wears 3-D glasses with the lenses removed.
• Co-worker repeatedly bangs a mallet on the table for no apparent reason.
• Co-worker whistles 8 hours a day.
• Co-worker chews tobacco and spits it into empty soda bottles.
• Former boss brought a baby sippy cup to a meeting and started drinking out of it.
• Co-worker cleaned fingernails using a counterpart’s business card while sitting in their office.

I’ll be the first to admit that some of these complaints seem ridiculous, but they’re obviously not ridiculous to the people complaining. (And living with someone who has a proclivity for whistling, I can attest to that.)

And as a manager, you might want to be aware if your employees’ habits are causing tension in the office.  According to the Center for Dispute Resolution, employees are less likely to do work while fuming, think more about quitting and become less committed to their work. 

Not that you should be playing office mommy or daddy, either…in which case, try the following tips from Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder to help your employees get along:

1. Encourage open communication. Don’t wait until there’s a problem, either. You should always be encouraging your employees to speak professionally and honestly with one another in order to promote a harmonious workplace.
2. Step in only when absolutely necessary. If an employee complains about a co-worker’s behavior and doesn’t feel he or she can approach that co-worker him or herself, it might be necessary for you to step in. (Check out my earlier post on resolving employee conflict.)
3. Let them agree to disagree. If your employees can’t come to an agreement with each other, the best alternative might be to simply switch things around, letting them move to another seat, office or cube.