Dive Brief:
- The most annoying buzzwords or jargon used in the office setting were “Lol" said outloud, “ping me” and “growth hacking," according to a Summit Hosting survey. The managed cloud solutions firm polled 1,000 people across America on which overused phrases annoyed them and which were more tolerable.
- Among the more acceptable jargon and buzzwords in the survey were “transparency,” “bandwidth,” “scalable,” “best practice,” “touch base” and “game changer.” Among the somewhat acceptable jargon were “paradigm shift,” “end of day (EOD)” and “elephant in the room.” The survey also broke down jargon by job category.
- Other survey results revealed that 47% of respondents viewed hearing jargon and buzzwords as less annoying than reading them, and 34% said hearing and reading jargon and buzzwords were equally annoying. Some respondents (16%) felt that using jargon would hurt their careers.
Dive Insight:
The problem with jargon is that the people who use it are often among the few who know what it means. For that reason alone it should be eliminated from business communication — and that doesn't even account for jargon that is unnecessary or just plain annoying. Like LOL said out loud.
HR managers want to be sure that employees understand workplace policies, procedures and benefits, which many don’t fully comprehend. That means communications need to be as clear as possible without sounding stuffy or overly formal. A casual, but forthright, communication style tends to work best. Made-up company terms or titles also walk a thin line.
Getting employees’ buy-in during, say, open enrollment can hinge on their understanding of what is offered and why each choice matters. Messages, both written and verbal, should be truthful, accurate, clearly expressed and delivered through the channels employees use most to receive information.
