What the #@!%* is wrong with workplace swearing?

September 7, 2012

What the #@!%* is wrong with workplace swearing?

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(Andy Zapata / Special to NWjobs)

By Natalie Singer / Special to NWjobs
We all know someone guilty of it. Every workplace has one. Some do it well; others seem addicted. And then there are those of us who want to try it but are just too darn timid -- or smart.

I’m talking, of course, about the office cusser. The resident potty mouth. The employee whose favorite word rhymes with duck.

Is swearing on the job ever appropriate? A CareerBuilder study conducted this spring found that a proclivity for profanity can get you into deep, uh, you-know-what. Eighty-one percent of employers believe that the use of curse words brings an employee’s professionalism into question, according to the survey of more than 2,000 hiring managers and 3,800 workers across industries and company sizes.

It’s not just your image that could be affected, but your paycheck as well: 57 percent of employers polled said they’d be less likely to promote someone who swears in the office.

Well, shoot.

Workers in some industries seem more inclined to be loose with the language -- truckers, emergency-room doctors and journalists are all rumored to be guilty of more than a little cussing. The Internet is blanketed with video clips of television news reporters who forgot to turn off their mics before unleashing curse-laced tirades.

And there are reports of politicians who suffer from slips of the tongue -- as when Vice President Joe Biden was heard using the F-word on live television in a whispered congratulations to President Barack Obama at the signing of his health-care bill in 2010.

Whatever the excuse -- stress, high pressure, a “creative” environment -- swearing is never appropriate (including via email and text) and always shows a lack of class, says Arden Clise, a business-etiquette consultant and president of Clise Etiquette, based in Seattle.

“Profanity is unprofessional and crass, and can be offensive, even harassing, to others,” Clise says. “People need to be professionals in the workplace, and swearing does not a professional make.”

Co-workers of the office swearer should always feel like it’s OK to complain, she adds.
But what about double standards? According to the CareerBuilder survey, while many employers may think less of an employee who curses too much in the office, one in four employers admitted to swearing at their employees, and 28 percent of workers said they have sworn at co-workers.

“A co-worker of mine does it all the time, but it’s targeted swearing -- only when she wants to punctuate an important point or get people’s attention around an issue, and never direct swearing at a supervisor,” says a project manager at Microsoft who asked not to be named. “It’s a little harsh for the rest of us to have to hear, but I think it earns her respect.”

It seems there’s something to that. Researchers at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom found in a study that swearing actually helped co-workers build relationships with one another and enabled them to express their feelings. That finding joins a body of psychology that frames swearing as a congenial tool that can enhance work solidarity, according to a March story on BusinessInsider.com.

So what the (bleep) to do?

Use your own judgment. When in doubt, perhaps take the standard approach of politicians and TV news anchors alike: If you have to, cuss first and apologize later.

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7 Comments

Drew on September 7, 2012 5:04 AM | Reply

I think most profanities uttered in office settings are born out of frustrations with the daily office politics.

Another point is for the employer's need to find out what causes their employees to use profanity on a daily basis.

Is there a problem with cohesiveness? What is the main cause of that hostility (profanity -wise)?
Is the problem(s) being addressed by management??

However, you have to look at it both ways.
A manager or boss given a "can't fail" mission
may use a profanity to drive home the point of their mission.
I have no issues with that.

doug spencer on September 7, 2012 7:22 AM | Reply

In the words of Kirk "Well that's simply the way they talk here. Nobody pays any attention to you unless you swear every other word."

Such a primative culture we have become when we resort to "colorful metaphors".

Crane on September 13, 2012 4:24 PM | Reply

Arden Clise has clearly never worked in the construction industry.

bbbb on September 18, 2012 12:37 AM | Reply

I was raised to believe that people that swear are not just crass and vulgar, they're actually stupid. So it is kind of fun when your boss swears and you can sit there and think, "wow, you're really an idiot, aren't you?"

BobTheBuilder on September 28, 2012 1:53 PM | Reply

bbbb:

I am a college educated, highly-paid professional working for a very large corporation in Redmond. I also happen to be a card-carrying member of Mensa. I use profanity quite frequently, because I'm free to do so.

The way you (you, specifically) were raised has nothing to do with whether any other person is intelligent or not. However, the fact that you've spent your entire life judging others based upon your own poorly-considered logical fallacy says quite a bit about your own capacity for intelligence.

The next time you think to yourself "wow, you're really an idiot, aren't you," about your boss, you should step back for a moment and consider that you report to them, they make more money than you do, and if they truly are an idiot, what does that say about you?

Say what? on October 4, 2012 12:51 PM | Reply

I'm sure you are a pleasure to work with. Keep tootin' that horn...

Ron Scheurer - 229990 - Class of 1981 on October 4, 2012 8:17 PM | Reply

Everyone knows what "shoot" and "frig" means as well as any number of words that rhyme with duck; like muck, puck, yuck, luck, etc. Doesn't darn mean damn? Or when was the last time you heard some say to their computer that wasn't working as expected: Oh goodness, have sex with this machine.

Most short English words consider as vulgar today were derived from old English, Anglo Saxon, or other languages before social class separations were established, and those in the upper crust wanted to seem superior. Latin for the priests; gobbly gook for lawyers.

It is someone's reaction to hearing the word in varying contexts and circumstances that affects them, not the word itself. No one here has ever heard the phrase "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Not true today, is it? Call your boss an SOB or a donkey by any other name and you will probably get fired.

What the #@!%* is wrong with workplace swearing?

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