Why your team can't stop swearing at work

Using profanity in a conversation is never a good option, whether at home, in school or at work, one is discouraged from using the f-word or any other kind of offensive languages.

But the culture seem to have shifted as an increasing number of workers are swearing at work, according to a  study from the project management software provider Wrike.  The study revealed that 57% of employees admit to cursing at work.

And surprisingly the ladies are swearing like sailors in the workplace, more women (60%) admitted to swearing than men (55%) in the workplace.

The weird thing is that even though a majority of people swear in the workplace, about 41% feel that swearing is unprofessional.

The younger generation finds dropping F-bombs at work to be acceptable, about 47% of Millennial men prefer working in a place where colleagues swear, and about 40% of millennial women felt the same way.

And believe it or not, having a swearing culture affects a candidate's employment choice, 33% would not consider accepting a position in an organisation in which swearing is strictly banned.

One in three Millennial respondents said swearing can strengthen a team, and 36% said profane outbursts (like “What the fXXX?!”) simply reflect a passion for their work.  11% said that they swear frequently because it's part of their workplace culture.

Additionally, 66% also said they are more likely to swear if their boss swears, while 25% report “it doesn’t matter”

In terms of the frequency of using bad words , 49% of those who have sworn in the workplace said that they do so a few times a week, 25% curse daily and 16% said they only swear rarely, and it's likely by accident.

Andrew Filev, CEO of Wrike, told Business News Daily said that he thinks swearing has become much more socially acceptable in general over the last couple of decades and social media is responsible for this cultural shift in what's acceptable behaviour in the office.

"One of the drivers of this is the advent of social media and blogging, where people share unfiltered and unedited content that is often not subject to any kind of standards or censorship," he said.

"In the workplace, we are seeing more casual attitudes about dress codes and a blurring of the lines between our professional and social lives, also enhanced by social media connections between colleagues," Filev added.

The study was based on surveys of 1,542 workers in the U.S. in different industries including marketing, IT, finance and human resources.

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