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DANGERS OF SWEARING AT WORK You're less likely to be promoted

„ DALLAS SHERRINGHAM

WE have all been guilty of dropping the magic word when under stress at work, but did you know that excessive swearing may cost you a promotion or even your job?

In this day and age of swearing being commonplace and accepted in the community, it is not okay to swear at work.

Research by PCC Employment Lawyers revealed that 57% of employers say they would be less likely to promote someone who swears as it calls their professionalism into question, demonstrates a lack of maturity and control and makes the employee appear less intelligent.

This is despite the fact that employers are not entirely innocent, with 25% admitting that they have sworn at their employees.

With today’s new wave of young workers, Generation Z, being the first age group born and raised with the internet and social media swearing has become commonplace in society.

And young women are just as likely to drop the magic word as the young bucks, which is another unique feature of this new generation of employees.

Some workplaces now accept swearing as a pat of the modern vernacular, even encouraging its use to emphasise an argument or express excitement.

In other workplaces, swearing may be seen as highly offensive, particularly around co-workers or clients.

This inevitably will lead to disciplinary action being taken against the employee who crossed the line.

Interestingly, since the increase in work-from-home arrangements during the past two years, a number of formalities have been done away with at work.

A recent survey by Sentieo showed a “number of workplace formalities have been done away with and swearing at work has increased by 60%”.

Management team in particular have taken to using stronger language in the workplace.

It has led to many companies implementing a Swearing Policy to put wayward employees on notice, but even the Policy can be complex.

The Policy typically takes into account the context in which the employee used the expletives. The context, type of words used and the audience are all important factors in determining whether the swearing was inappropriate,

PCC Lawyers said it was now imperative that employers have workplace policies in place to regulate the use of ‘language’.

In times of stress

This policy will typically allow for an expletive dropped in casual conversation or at times of stress, but it should also state the grounds for disciplinary action or even dismissal.

The number one grounds for dismissal is swearing at a customer. In a recent court case, the court rejected an employee’s unfair dismissal claim against a Sydney motor dealer. The employee was terminated after he swore at a customer and the court upheld the decision because customer service was a key part of the employee’s job. The court decision said: “his conduct threatened the profitability and reputation of the business”. Another case involved an employee who swore at his manager using “extremely crude and profane language in threatening manager and had caused his manager to become fearful for his own safety”. The worker was terminated and he sued for unfair dismissal, but the court rejected his claim and said: “there is a qualitative difference between swearing in the workforce per se and swearing direct to one’s manager or another employee which is not only offensive but highly personalised”. A Swearing Policy involves employers as well as employees and adhering to that policy allows you to control the culture you wish to cultivate. Employees take their cues from their supervisors and if a manager swears in front of employees regularly, employees may be believe it is okay for them to swear as well. Employers should also crack down on poor language as it has the potential to offend workmates and may be seen to be condoning behavior which could amount to bullying. Swearing dismissals are more commonplace than you may think. The Fair Work Commission hears countless claims and many workers have had their protests upheld.

The FWC takes into account the context in which the words were used, the swearing culture of the workplace involved, what was actually said and the tone or manner in which the employee said it.

So, before dropping the magic word at work, you need to think long and hard about the repercussions involved and whether your use of bad language is harming your progress.

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