The worst scenario has happened at work. Maybe you sent a large document to the printer with an embarrassing spelling mistake on the front page. Maybe you accidentally CCed a customer into some particularly scathing internal emails. Or someone vital has just withdrawn from a major project. Do you quietly cook and enjoy weapon-level eye rolling? Or loudly utter a string of the most obnoxious expletives you can think of, conjuring up the ghost of the swearing spin doctor Malcolm Tucker by The thick of it when you go?
The latter scenario would once have been considered unforgivable faux pasReason enough to have you appear before HR immediately. But now it might just cause some raised eyebrows and a flood of furtive Slack messages between your bewildered colleagues. That’s because dropping the f-bomb in the office may no longer be a colossal, well, f*** up.
Last year, 30 percent of participants in a LinkedIn survey admitted to swearing ‘constantly’ at work. Another one study found that the average British worker hears eleven swear words a day (an estimate that would be quite conservative in many of the offices I’ve worked in).
A wave of high-profile lawsuits has shown how far the norms have also shifted when it comes to profanity in the workplace. In 2023, a tribunal judge ruled that the phrase “I don’t care***” could now be considered a “quite mundane” office interaction. A separate unfair dismissal case made headlines this month when another judge suggested swearing at work is more accepted in the north of England.
But despite these headline-grabbing examples, the idea of turning the sky blue in a conference room will likely still be anathema to some, because swearing – and the broader question of how we cause offense and be offended in general – is a subjective , is a blurry issue. . One person might use “son of a bitch” as a twisted term of endearment; another might view that behavior as incomprehensible. So how did we become so rude at work – and how rude is too rude when interacting with colleagues?
When we try to grapple with these questions, context is important. “I think swearing, or even ideas about good manners and decency, are all cultural artifacts that reflect the norms, values and attitudes of people at a particular time and place,” says Dr. Alex Gapud, cultural anthropologist at the employee engagement consultancy . Scarlettabbott.
There are industries that seem to have cultivated a “more expletives, the better” approach over the years. Working in a restaurant kitchen is notorious for swear words (see Gordon Ramsay’s entire personal brand for an example). This also applies to the financial world: you only have to look at it for a few stressful minutes banking drama Industry to get a taste. The art world, which is so very different from the city in most other respects, plays just as fast and loose with swearing (so countercultural, baby). “The more you tolerate it, the more (swearing) you’re going to get,” said Gillian McAteer, employment law director at law firm Quote. “So it’s very easy to get out of control.”
Maybe you have a leader who feels like he has to swear because he has an idea or standard of what “alpha” behavior is
Dr. Alex Gapud, cultural anthropologist
What is striking is that these professions have a performative side – it is as if those involved feel that they have to conform to a certain image in order to really inhabit the part. Just think Tom Wambsgans in Successionwho seemed to become increasingly creative with his expletive-ridden insults as he became more entangled in the corporate structure of his father-in-law’s media empire.
“We have the tendency play roles the way we believe they should be played,” Gapud added. “You may have a leader who feels like he has to swear because he has an idea or standard of what ‘alpha’ behavior is.” Wanting to fit in, he says, can be “such a powerful force” at work, “especially because there are often rewards for being an insider or being seen as the right fit.” You often get promoted if you behave the “right” way – and sometimes the “right” way involves doing something that is otherwise considered “wrong.”
Playing Alpha: ‘Succession’s Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen, right) seemed to become increasingly creative with his expletive-ridden insults as he climbed the media (HBO) corporate ladder
What we consider offensive or blasphemous, Gapud says, varies over time. That’s definitely swearing much less taboo in everyday conversation than before. In a 2021 report from the British Board of Film Classification, which is updating its guidelines around strong language in film and TV by consulting audiences, six in 10 people said swearing was part of their daily lives. In addition, a third of participants admitted to swearing more than five years earlier. Inevitably, then, this looser attitude to language has seeped into the office, helped by a simultaneous shift towards a more informal working culture, with ‘authenticity’ a common – if vague – buzzword in the business world.
The BBFC research also revealed a significant gap between generations, with 46 percent of Gen Z saying they swear every day, compared to just 12 percent of 55 to 64-year-olds. As the workforce gets younger, they are likely to reshape office habits in line with their own habits. And the blurring of boundaries between our professional and private lives in the wake of the pandemic has likely had a knock-on effect, too: There’s a “trickle-down” between how we behave at home and at work, says Gapud, because we may working remotely. , or “working outside the nine to five hours”.
Dr. Tara Reich, reader in organizational behavior and human resource management at King’s Business Schoolagrees. “I think Covid has upended a lot of expectations about workplace culture, and also created a lot of stress and uncertainty for employees at all levels, so workplace norms are probably more in flux than before,” she says. .
Swearing isn’t just a tool of profanity either: we can use profanity to make jokes, emphasize a story, or bond with others. “On the positive side, swearing with trusted colleagues can build connections, demonstrate authenticity and create a comfortable environment where people feel free to express themselves,” says Alex Alvarez, chief people scientist at the Employee Experience Platform Culture Amp.
When we hear our colleagues express real feelings in strong, unvarnished terms, we may even whisper to them as fallible human beings. Swearing is a bit of a risk, and that makes us vulnerable; it could signal to those around us that we trust them enough to bend the rules in their presence (of course, this is also woven into corporate power structures – we are certainly more likely to swear among our immediate colleagues and office friends, in instead of semi-ironically calling our boss’s boss aw***er).
Bonding: Sometimes swearing can even help us build connections with colleagues (Getty/iStock)
But that’s not the whole story. “Excessive or aggressive swearing can be harmful. In tense situations, it can escalate conflict or create a hostile environment,” says Alvarez. What one employee considers a casual insult may be considered completely unacceptable by the colleague sitting next to him. Telling that person that they are overreacting or going in the wrong direction risks undermining their concern and possibly making them feel isolated. “Building an inclusive culture means recognizing that different people have different responses to language, and an ‘I didn’t mean to offend’ response won’t help if someone feels disrespected,” Alvarez adds.
If someone’s rants make those around them feel uncomfortable or unable to speak, that’s a glaring issue. “If someone’s rude behavior makes another feel that their dignity has been violated or that the environment is hostile to them, then we have a problem, especially if protected characteristics (such as race, gender, age or disability) are involved. .” says Reich, adding that “there is some research suggesting that women and ethnic minorities are more likely to report being rude.”
She points to the work of American academic Lilia Cortina, who has explored the phenomenon of ‘selective incivility’, where rudeness is directed at a specific group, as ‘a form of covert discrimination at work’. The downside of this is also that women and minorities may be judged more harshly for swearing; Alvarez points out that this “could potentially widen the divide in the workplace.”
Building an inclusive culture means recognizing that different people have different responses to language
Alex Alvarez, chief people scientist at Culture Amp
Most workplaces will have a policy in place about the use of offensive language, usually under the heading of misconduct, McAteer explains, but inevitably “the big gray area is ‘what is offensive’? I don’t think it’s as black and white as it used to be.”
“When assessing whether swearing amounts to misconduct, the context is important,” says Fudia Smarttemployment law attorney at Spencer West. A tribunal is likely to take into account a range of factors, she adds, looking at workplace culture, whether an employer’s reputation has been damaged, whether someone has been provoked and “whether the language has been used in the heat of the moment”.
Employers can also be in a tough spot, McAteer adds, if they “have a policy but haven’t trained people on it – that’s a big risk. Another huge risk is that if you have a policy… but it’s not what people do in practice.” If an employee is fired for using profanity, he or she may claim that he or she simply acted in accordance with office norms. “They’ll say, ‘Well, in all those other cases you didn’t take action,’” she explains.
Creating a list of ‘banned’ words, as a way of making things black and white, probably won’t go over well either. It could come across as patronizing, it would be difficult to police and, as Reich puts it, “misses the point that most of the time it’s not about the words themselves, but what they mean to the person hearing (them).”
So what’s the best way to navigate this decidedly tricky terrain? Alvarez has a good rule of thumb: “Ultimately, swearing in the workplace should be used with caution, and limited to small, trusted groups where it will not alienate or offend others.” When in doubt, save the swear words for the discussion with your (non-work) friends in the pub. Or, in more colorful terms, shut up until you’re far away from the office.