Swearing can add a punctuation mark to a comment when it's peppered in a conversation. What's the etiquette of swearing at work? Do YOU swear at work?
“Business formality is on the way out,” says Nick Mazing, Sentieo’s director of research. Back in 2020, he noticed a lot of sober language in transcripts, and talk of gratitude. Now, many appear to be saying f—it.
Still, deploy a curse word at the wrong moment, or in the wrong company, and it can swiftly derail your career. Nancy Halpern, a leadership consultant who helps executives navigate office politics, recommends looking two rungs above you on the organizational chart to determine what language is acceptable at your company. Try to decouple swearing from complaining, she says, so you don’t come across as doubly negative.