Guess Who Is Cussing Up a Storm at Work

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Do you work with millennial women? If the answer is “yes,” it may be a wise money move to start a swear jar at work.

According to a new survey by project management software company Wrike, young women are among the most likely demographic to curse like a sailor in the office.

While 66 percent of millennials (ages 18-29) surveyed by Wrike admitted to dropping the f-bomb or more while on the clock, just 54 percent of their older colleagues could say the same.

In a cursing battle of the sexes, females came out on top, with 60 percent of women fessing up to openly swearing at work, compared with 55 percent of men. However, men who swear in the office tend to do it with greater frequency than their female peers, the survey found.

If profanity in the workplace makes you uncomfortable, you may want to avoid the following industries, where Wrike says cursing is the most rampant:

  • Health care: 64 percent of surveyed employees admit to swearing at work
  • Finance: 62 percent
  • Professional services: 61 percent
  • Tech: 59 percent
  • Government staff: 53 percent

Here are some other highlights from the Wrike survey of 1,542 workers:

  • Cursing workers said they use profanity to convey ideas and feelings, express passion for their work or strengthen relationships with co-workers. “Millennials see swearing in the workplace as having a positive overall effect on culture, so I wouldn’t expect it to be curbed anytime soon,” Wrike CEO Andrew Filev tells Business News Daily.
  • Although the majority of workers (57 percent) said they use profanity at work, 41 percent of workers surveyed said cursing is too casual and unprofessional for the office.
  • Two-thirds of workers in the survey said they’re more comfortable cursing at work if their boss also swears, while 25 percent said “it doesn’t matter.”
  • One-third of workers said they would not consider taking a job in an organization that bans cursing.

Wrike’s report on language and informal communication in the workplace is Part One of its 2016 Work Management Survey.

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