While at an airport restaurant this weekend I happened to overhear a conversation between two employees that were less than satisfied with their job situation.
They were discussing the recent new hire and apparently one of them was pretty unhappy. Their conversation seemed to be directed with the concern that the new hire was not catching on and causing more work for the other employees.
I could understand why they were upset, as this restaurant was pretty busy, and it seemed like they needed to have “shakers and movers” for staff members.
All of a sudden one of the employees started using foul language and getting quite upset over the situation. The name she called the new employee was unprofessional and in the earshot of a couple of customers.
As I continued eating my meal, I wondered what would happen if a supervisor heard them and did the company have a policy to address this type of language and behavior at work?
As I sat there, I Googled “foul language at work” and found this great article (link below) posted on the Forbes website. The article is about a survey CareerBuilder has done on this very topic.
According to the survey, 64% of employers said that they think less of an employee who repeatedly uses curse words, and 57% would be less likely to promote that person.
Workplace cultures do vary and in some instances, swearing may be acceptable at work. However according to the survey, a majority of hiring managers said they believe that the use of curse words brings the employee’s professionalism and lack of control into question.
The study also states that more than half of the hiring managers felt using dirty words at work makes an employee appear less intelligent.
Not only did I think this employee acted very unprofessional in the workplace, but she also did not care that she might be heard by the customers who were nearby and that type of language might be offensive to them. What a poor impression she made on myself and the others that were close by.
Comments