Is it OK to Swear at Work? (ep.149)

Is it ok to swear at work? Do you use profanity at work? Dr. Andrea Wojnicki shares the myths about profanity and highlights what the research says about the pros and cons of swearing at work.

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RESOURCES

* Ep.23 – PROFANITY: TALKING TABOO with linguistics professor Darin Flynn – https://www.talkabouttalk.com/23s2-explicit-profanity-talking-taboo-with-linguistics-professor-darin-flynn/

* Yehuda Baruch and Stuart Jenkins, 2007, “Swearing at work and permissive leadership culture When anti-social becomes social and incivility is acceptable “Leadership & Organization Development Journal Vol. 28 No. 6, pp. 492-507  (Read the article)

* Y Baruch, R Prouska, A Ollier-Malaterre, J Bunk (2017) “Swearing at Work: The Mixed Outcomes of Profanity” Journal of Managerial Psychology

* Darin Flynn: “White people should never rap the n-word: A linguist breaks it down“- https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/white-people-should-never-rap-the-n-word-a-linguist-breaks-it-down

* Darin Flinn: “What the &*$%?: What qualifies as a “bad” word nowadays?” – http://www.calgaryherald.com/swerve/features/What+What+qualifies+word+nowadays/8873621/story.html

TRANSCRIPT

Well, hello there and welcome to the Talk About Talk podcast. Today I’m going to help us answer an important question: Is it OK to swear at work?

Recently I had a consult, a short virtual introductory meeting with a prospective client. Let’s call her Candace. I immediately liked Candace. I could tell she was incredibly ambitious. Super smart and very keen to boost her communication skills. She had what you would call a strong personality. I also noticed that she swore. Like a lot. Like, not just. Oh God or WTF. She was dropping F bombs. At one point in our conversation, I even made a joke about this, mentioning that as a communication coach, I have to highlight that she uses profanity excessively compared to most of my executive clients. Her response was basically, “I’m going to talk the way I’m going to talk.”

OK…

After Candace hired me to help her with her communication skills, I spoke with her manager. I often do this so I can get a better feel for where the real opportunities are for my clients. Her manager told me that Candace has got to stop swearing. Her colleagues and clients all find it offensive. 

The good news is that Candace immediately agreed that she’s going to make this change. And she’s done so. Every now and then, in one of our coaching sessions, she’ll let one slip. But then she always has a big smile and she apo...