Offices are getting more casual these days — whether it’s wearing jeans every day of the week or having the freedom to drop an f-bomb in front of your boss. Things are getting less professional, and you can thank the youngest generation of employees.
Millennials make up 60 percent of the current work force, and since a majority rules, employers are being forced to change some of their policies and workplace culture to attract and retain the best employees.
Millennials find it much more acceptable to use curse words at work than older generations. According to a new study by work management platform Wrike, 66 percent of millennial employees (aged 18-29) openly swear at work, compared to 54 percent of Baby Boomers and Generation X. Swearing was found to be even more common among millennials in management positions — 80 percent admitted to swearing at work, compared to 56 percent of boomers and Gen X-ers.
Millennials even found some perceived benefits to using explicit language in the office. About one-third said swearing can help strengthen a team, and 36 percent said swearing reflects passion for their work.
Across all age groups, the survey found women were more likely to swear at work than men, whereas men were more likely to describe swearing as “awkward” or “too casual.”
“We can only guess why women apparently out-swear men in this small, nationally representative sample,” wrote Danielle Paquette for The Washington Post‘s Wonkblog. “Cursing has historically registered as ‘unladylike,’ so the resurgence of feminism in popular culture might have also swept our vernacular. The f-bomb, then, could be a rejection of verbal gender roles, a power move.”
Regardless of gender, it appears swearing is becoming the latest workplace ‘benefit’ that employees are coming to expect.
One-third of the workers surveyed by Wrike said they wouldn’t accept a job at an office where swearing was strictly banned.
