The bottom line is…we’re fed up with the jargon! According to surveys, most office workers believe that business language is a sign of incompetence
- Blue Thinking topped a list of most hated working languages
- “Low Hanging Fruit” and “Touch Base” also topped the list
- Enreach surveyed 1,500 workers and said the jargon was trying too hard to impress
You might think business jargon can help you stay ahead of the curve — but most office workers think it shows you don’t know what you’re doing.
And “blue sky thinking” – trying to come up with completely new ideas – is the most annoying phrase in the workplace, according to a survey of Britons.
It topped the list at 27 percent, while 26 percent of respondents said “thinking outside the box” sucks the most.
“Blue thinking” topped the list at 27 percent, while 26 percent of respondents said “thinking outside the box” was the most annoying jargon
Next are “low hanging fruits” — something that’s easy to reach or manage — and “touch base,” meaning to make brief contact, which came up 23 percent, according to the survey of 1,500 office workers.
A whopping 90 percent of respondents agree that some people use jargon to try to cover up their shortcomings.
Almost half (46 percent) said that colleagues who use these phrases come across as trying hard to impress, while 43 percent find them just irritating.
Duncan Ward, from communications firm Enreach, which conducted the research, said: “At a time when we still may not be able to meet our colleagues face-to-face, simple, clear communication is one of the most important things we all need .”
More than a fifth (21 percent) of 1,500 respondents say they would walk a mile if they went to an interview and their prospective employer continued to use business jargon.
And 44 percent said if they had a pound for every time their boss used office jargon, they would be rich now.
But nearly two-thirds (64 percent) admit they sometimes use the dreaded jargon themselves.
Mr Ward added: “Our research shows that effective communication at work is vital as so many of us don’t have time to waste.
“Clearly, business jargon makes this difficult, and the results of this study show that phrases like ‘blue sky thinking’ are unhelpful and even off-putting, and that people would prefer to understand more clearly what their peers mean.”
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